Pekin-based Reditus labs has discovered the Indian double mutant variant of the coronavirus in Bloomington-Normal. The lab tests nasal samples throughout the country.
Reditus said the latest batch of 371 randomly selected positive samples showed a single instance of the so-called B.1.617 Indian double mutant variant. Preliminary evidence indicates the Indian variant is potentially more dangerous than previous strains of the virus, Reditus said.
India is the global hot spot for the pandemic at the moment with nearly 4,000 deaths and 287,000 cases Wednesday alone, according to that country's health ministry.
The dominant strains of variants in the batch tested by Reditus were the UK and Brazilian variants. Those two strains accounted for 65% of the samples. 85% of the total batch was collected in Illinois. The South African and Santa Clara variants also had a presence.
Variants are of concern because they are potentially more contagious and may have some resistance to the vaccine, Reditus said.