HELSINKI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th February, 2021) A new strain of the coronavirus, Fin-796H, which is hard to detect by at least one type of a PCR test, has been discovered in Finland, the Vita Laboratories company said.
Several coronavirus strains have been detected across the world so far, with the British, South African, Brazilian and Japanese ones being the most notorious.
"Vita Laboratoriot Oy and the Institute of Biotechnology at the University of Helsinki have detected the previously unknown strain of the coronavirus in a sample from southern Finland. The mutations in this strain make it hard to detect it with at least one of the WHO-recommended PCR tests. This discovery may have a significant impact on determining the spread of the disease. The SARS-CoV-2 virus [strain], preliminarily called Fin-796H, has features of both British and South African strains," the company said in a statement on late Wednesday.
The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11. To date, more than 109.88 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 2.42 million fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Finland has confirmed more than 51,000 COVID-19 cases so far, with over 700 fatalities.
