A new coronavirus strain, named Mu, has been designated a variant of interest by the World Health Organization.
Mu, or B.1.621, was first identified in Colombia and cases have been recorded in South America and Europe.
The WHO’s weekly bulletin on the pandemic said the variant has mutations suggesting it could be more resistant to vaccines, as was the case with Beta, but that more studies would be needed to examine this further.
It said: “Since its first identification in Colombia in January 2021, there have been a few sporadic reports of cases of the Mu variant and some larger outbreaks have been reported from other countries in South America and in Europe.
