Washington, Wednesday

Researchers in the US and UK have identified hundreds of mutations to the virus which causes the disease Covid-19.

But none has yet established what this will mean for virus spread in the population and for how effective a vaccine might be.

Viruses mutate. It’s what they do.

The question is: which of these mutations actually do anything to change the severity or infectiousness of the disease?

Preliminary research from the US has suggested one particular mutation —D614G—is becoming dominant and could make the disease more infectious, and perhaps more severe. But it hasn’t yet been reviewed by other scientists and formally published.

The development comes as US President Donald Trump confirmed the White House coronavirus taskforce will be winding down, with Vice-President Mike Pence suggesting it could be disbanded within weeks.

“We are bringing our country back,” Trump said during a visit to a mask-manufacturing factory in Arizona. 

The US registered 2,333 more deaths over the 24-hours, with some scientific models suggesting the figure will rise to 3,000 a day by June. 

The US currently has 1.2 million confirmed coronavirus infections and more than 70,000 related deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University tally.

Britain’s Covid-19 deaths rose to 32,000, putting it above Italy in the grim ranking of national fatalities.

Elsewhere in Europe, hard-hit Italy, Spain and France have reported a levelling off of figures, offering hope that life could slowly start returning to normal.

With experts warning of a severe global recession, many governments have been easing stay-at-home measures in a bid to revive badly hammered economies.

“We can’t keep our country closed for the next five years,” Trump said, conceding that some people would be “badly affected.”

He urged US states to ease restrictions as he attempts to fire up the world’s biggest economy before the November presidential election, when the high death toll and millions of lost jobs could cost him dearly.

In Germany, regional leaders pushed back against Chancellor Angela Merkel’s pleas for caution, with the biggest state Bavaria saying it would reopen restaurants and hotels this month.

Hong Kong announced plans to reopen schools, cinemas, bars and beauty parlours from Friday, while Californian bookshops, florists and clothing stores will also be allowed to reopen at the end of the week.

Russia cemented its place as the European country reporting the highest number of new infections as its total cases soared past 155,000.

More than 258,000 people have died of the novel coronavirus, with over 3.6 million infections since the epidemic surfaced in China late last year.

Meanwhile, researchers, from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, have been tracking changes to the “spike” of the virus that gives it its distinctive shape.

 They noted there seems to be something about this particular mutation that makes it grow more quickly—but the consequences of this are not yet clear. -BBC and AFP