COVID-19: What we know about California variant that is more infectious and lethal

A new coronavirus variant identified in California known as the B.1.427/B.1.429 has raised concerns among scientists. According to recent scientific research, the California variant of the novel coronavirus, which apparently is a ‘heavily mutated’ combination of at least two separate variants, is not only more virulent but could also possibly carry a higher mortality rate and may be more resistant to vaccines. 

What we know so far

As per a study published by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), the California variant, which has now spread across to 19 countries, concentrated in the US state of California by May 2020. As this variant is far more transmissible than the United Kingdom and South Africa, it infected nearly half of the total state’s population by January 2021. There are fears that it may even be more deadly and may be spreading faster than other strains. Scientists said that it may lead to more severe cases of infection.

Concerns over mutations

The B.1.427/B.1.429 or CAL.20C strain of California has multiple mutations, some even on its protein spike via which the coronavirus binds to the host cell and multiplies. Scientists, in early-stage research, have discovered at least four mutations to this strain, which have not been identified previously in South African, UK, or Brazilian mutants. What’s concerning the researchers about this variant is multiple mutations of its protein spike as never seen before, and its implication is yet to be studied among the COVID-19 patients.

Research suggests that the California variant is far more contagious, Eric Vail, the director of molecular pathology at Cedars-Sinai, confirmed to the New York Times. A separate Cedars-Sinai team’s analysis found that at least 24 percent of total COVID-19 positive cases in Southern California by December carried this new variant.

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Severe COVID-19 symptomatic illness

Separate data from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) suggests that the California variant is associated with severe COVID-19 symptomatic illness, and is at least partially resistant to neutralizing antibodies. Virologists at Georgetown University, meanwhile, who studied 2172 genomes from virus samples found that the variant comes in two versions labeled B.1.427 and B.1.429, both carrying differing mutations. “Those carrying the variant were 4.8 times more likely to be admitted to the ICU and more than 11 times more likely to die,” a viral sequencing expert at the University of Wisconsin, Madison found.

It was also found that the people infected with the California variant were twice more infectious to others and carried the more viral load in their nose. The new California variant was also found to be infecting human cells and lung-like structures called organoids severalfold faster. “The evidence is growing that this [variant] is more transmissible than [its] immediate competitors,” an expert on viral evolution at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health said. 

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