Possible Impact of Mutation of Sars-COV-2

The novel Sars-Cov-2 virus that causes COVID-19 has undergone some structural changes—in particular, a mutation in the spike protein established what appears to be a dominant strain that is more transmissible by a single amino acid replacement in residue 614 of the spike (S) protein---Aspartic Acid replaced with Glycine. However, the new strain that is potentially more infectious has not been shown to be associated with mortality, indicating that it is likely not more deadly. We study how this mutation is contributing to the epidemiological data showing lower mortality rates in parallel to the observed waves of infection.