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September 08, 2021

Andrew Campbell 

Despite the appearance of the new Mu COVID-19 variant, World Health Organization (WHO) officials stated on September 7 that the Delta strain remains the most serious concern globally, appearing to outcompete others that were added to the WHO's list of variants of interest.

Previously, WHO stated that it was closely monitoring the Mu variant, also known as B.1621, which was discovered in Colombia in January 2021. It is one of five variants of interest being tracked by the WHO on a global scale. Mu has a number of mutations that indicate it may be more resistant to vaccines, but more research is required. Globally, the overall COVID-19 caseload has held steady, with approximately 4.5 million cases reported each week and deaths increasing by approximately 68,000 per week, both figures being underestimates.

According to Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO Adviser of the IHR Emergency Committee, while the Mu variant had mutations similar to the Beta variant, the Delta variant is the most concerning due to the increased transmissibility. It is twice as contagious as the ancestral strain, which means it can infect twice as many people. Since its discovery in India in October 2020, Delta has spread rapidly to at least 170 countries, including the United States, quickly becoming the dominant variant in many of those regions.