Nizwa University study in Oman detect rare strain of coronavirus
By: Times News Service
Muscat: A rare strain of COVID-19 has been detected in Oman, thanks to efforts taken to map the genetic sequences of variants in the country.
The project, which was jointly undertaken by the University of Nizwa and the Ministry of Health, looked at 94 samples of the virus taken from patients in the country. Its results have now been published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases.
P323L is the most common mutation of the virus, found in 94.7 per cent of samples studied, followed by the D614G spike protein mutation, present in 92.6 per cent. A unique mutation, I280V, was first reported in Oman and was associated with a rare lineage, B.1.113, found in only 10.6 per cent of samples.