Two different tribes of the new #coronavirus spread around the world, it appears after analysis of 103 cases of disease. But the World Health Organization stresses that there is “no evidence that the virus is changing.” So how many tribes are there and why does that matter?

Viruses are always mutating. Certainly RNA viruses like the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. If a person is infected with this virus, it multiplies in the airway. Every time the virus does, about six genetic mutations occur, says virologist Ian Jones from the University of Reading in the UK.
Aggressive viruses

Xiaolu Tang from Beijing University in China and colleagues studied the viral genome — the complete set of the genetic material of the virus — of 103 cases of disease. They found common mutations at two locations in the genome. The team identified two types of the virus based on differences in the genome at these two locations. Of the 103 virus strains studied, 72 were L-type and 29 were S-Type.

A separate analysis of the team suggests that the L-type comes from the older S-type. The first strain probably emerged around the time the virus spread from animals to humans. The second one emerged shortly after, says the team. Both are involved in the current global outbreak. The fact that the L-type is more common, according to the team, seems to indicate that this form is more 'aggressive' than the S-type.



Two different strains of the coronavirus discovered