STUDY: 2 PATIENTS INFECTED WITH 2 COVID VARIANTS SIMULTANEOUSLY

BRASILIA: Researchers in southern Brazil said they have found two patients who are infected with different strains of the Covid-19 virus at the same time, Reuters has reported.

The patients, both in their 30s, had mild symptoms and did not require hospitalisation. The cases raise concern among scientists that coexistence of two strains in the same body could speed up mutations of the virus. The study, posted on medrxiv, hasn’t been published in a journal or been peer reviewed.

In the US, the director of the CDC said officials have “scaled up” surveillance of new strains. Rochelle Walensky said it was “concerning” two South Carolina individuals diagnosed with the South Africa strain didn’t know each other, so the “presumption” is there’s “community spread of this strain”.