Two research teams have reported that a concerning new coronavirus variant has been found in New York City and in the Northeast.

The mutations in this variant help it evade the bodys immune response, besides evading the effects of monoclonal antibody treatment. The variant has been named as B.1.526. It has been noted among individuals affected in varied neighborhoods of New York City and scattered in the Northeast. One of the mutations that this variant carries is the same as that seen in the variant first identified in South Africa (B.1.351). There has been a steady rise in the detection rate from late December till middle of February, while there has been an alarming increase to 12.7% over the last two weeks… (CNN, February 25, 2021)