News > Covid-19: New, more infectious strain is pervasive

Covid-19: New, more infectious strain is pervasive

A new, more infectious variant of the original strain of Covid-19 is now dominating current cases across the globe, according to a study by an international team of researchers. The analysis of the virus' genome sequence found that a mutation called 'D614G' made the virus more infectious than the original strain, but did not cause more severe disease.

The variant makes a small but effective change in the ‘spike’ glycoprotein that protrudes from the surface of the virus, which it uses to enter and infect human cells.