Leading medic warns Covid-19 strain may be easier to catch as it mutates
A MUTATION of coronavirus able to spread more easily may have emerged, America’s top infectious disease expert has warned, as Texas made mask-wearing in public mandatory.
Dr Anthony Fauci, who sits on the White House coronavirus task force, said there is data to suggest the existence of a new mutation of Covid-19 which is more “transmissible”.
He cautioned that scientists are still trying to confirm its existence and it does not appear to be more damaging for patients.
However, the potential is a cause for concern as the United States grapples with record highs of new daily coronavirus cases.
Texas, one of the states seeing a surge in case numbers and hospital admissions, ordered the use of face masks in certain situations.
Texans in counties with 20 or more Covid-19 cases – the vast majority – must have their nose and mouth covered in outdoor public spaces or a building open to the public.
Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas, said that if the state wanted businesses to stay open, it was vital to stop the virus’s spread.
The move comes with a recent flurry of senior Republicans urging Americans to wear face masks in public.
Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the Senate, and Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, have both issued calls for people to do so in recent days.
President Donald Trump also said he was “all for masks” and joked that he looked like the Lone Ranger when wearing one in a recent interview, adopting a less critical tone than in the past.
Yet his plan last night to attend a July 4 celebration at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota came in for criticism.
The event, due to feature a fireworks display, was expected to be attended by 7,500 people.
Face masks were set to be handed out, but attendees were not required to socially distance.
Kristi Noem, the state’s Republican governor, told Fox News that social distancing would not be needed at the
WHO monitoring more than 60,000 genetic sequences
event so people can “enjoy the freedoms and liberties in this country”.
Dr Fauci made his comments about a mutation of Covid-19 during an appearance on a podcast run by ‘The Journal of the American Medical Association’.
“I think the data is showing that there is a single mutation that actually makes the virus be able to replicate better and maybe have high viral loads,” Dr Fauci said.
“We don’t have a connection to whether an individual does worse with this or not.
“It just seems that the virus replicates better and may be more transmissible.”
Dr Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said confirmation was still being sought.
Viruses naturally mutate and scientists have previously found evidence of minor mutations of Covid-19.
The World Health Organisation is monitoring more than 60,000 different genetic sequences of coronavirus.
In America, 55,000 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed on Thursday, about 20,000 more cases than the first peak in April.
Now, 36 of the 50 US states are seeing cases rise, according to a CNN tracker.
The coronavirus surge has seen parts of the country that had been reopening go into reverse. (© Daily Telegraph, London)