Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

3 New Cases Of "Mu Variant" Found In Hong Kong, Authorities Fear It Is Vaccine Resistant

3 New Cases Of "Mu Variant" Found In Hong Kong, Authorities Fear It Is Vaccine Resistant

Health authorities in Hong Kong warned Saturday morning that three people who recently traveled to Hong Kong from Colombia had been found to be carrying the variant Mu with them. World Health Organization has said Mu variant has a number of mutations suggesting it could be more resistant to vaccines.
Three people who recently arrived in Hong Kong were found to be carrying a new coronavirus variant which health experts fear could be more vaccine resistant.

Two of the patients – a 19-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman – had flown in from Colombia and were confirmed to have the Mu variant in early June, while the other, a 26-year-old woman, arrived from the United States, health authorities said on Friday. She was found to be infected on July 24.

The development came as the city confirmed four new imported Covid-19 cases, all involving domestic workers who arrived from the Philippines.

About 4,500 infections involving the Mu variant, known scientifically as B. 1.621, have been reported across the world, with more than half discovered in the US, according to the University of Hong Kong’s Dr Ho Pak-leung, who uncovered two of the three local cases while examining a government database open to the public.

Local health authorities had not reported any cases involving the Mu variant until Ho, an infectious diseases specialist, made his discovery public.

“Although the Mu variant did not leak into the community, the government should still be transparent in keeping the public informed about these variant cases in the city,” Ho told a local radio programme.

“The coronavirus keeps mutating as the globe is still battling a third wave … We cannot underestimate the possibility of having a more infectious variant emerge in the future.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) added Mu, first found in Colombia in January, to its “variants of interest” list on Monday. It has also categorised “variants of concern” to prioritise global monitoring and research, with the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta types on the list.

There is widespread concern over new mutations emerging as infection rates are again ticking up around the world, with the highly infectious Delta dominant – especially among the unvaccinated – and in areas where anti-pandemic measures have been eased.

In its latest weekly epidemiological report on Covid-19, the WHO said the Mu variant had a number of mutations that suggested it could be more resistant to vaccines, but stressed that further research would be needed to confirm this.

The global health agency said the worldwide prevalence of Mu had declined to below 0.1 per cent among sequenced cases.
However, in Colombia and neighbouring Ecuador cases had consistently increased and accounted for 39 per cent and 13 per cent of infections, respectively.

Five variants of interest – Eta, Iota, Kappa, Lambda and Mu – are to be monitored.

In a risk assessment early last month, Public Health England said there was no evidence Mu was more transmissible than Delta but its ability to evade vaccine-induced immunity could contribute to future changes.

“The level of threat from such a variant depends on its growth and expansion … In the current context there is no indication that it is outcompeting Delta,” it said.

Government pandemic adviser Professor David Hui Shu-cheong of Chinese University said the Delta variant was of greater concern but it was hard to comment because there was very little information about the Mu type.

Respiratory medicine expert Dr Leung Chi-chiu said the public did not need to be too worried about the Mu type as it was not listed as a variant of concern and had not spread in the community.

“It is only one of the 1,000 variants found across the world,” he said. “Although the Mu variant is found in 39 countries, I cannot see that it has a higher transmission efficiency compared with the Delta variant. We still have to monitor the situation.”

He added that the most effective way to defend the city against the variant still lay in border control measures to prevent local transmission.

“As long as the Mu variant does not get into the community and remains as imported cases, we do not need to worry about it too much,” he said.

Few travellers fly into Hong Kong from Colombia and Ecuador, with barely a handful of passengers making the journey each month, especially now during the pandemic.

The four domestic helpers confirmed with Covid-19 on Friday had flown into Hong Kong on Cebu Pacific flight 5J272 on Wednesday.

The group, aged between 32 and 45, carried the L452R mutation, which is linked to several variants, including the Delta one. Their infections triggered a two-week flight ban against the budget airline until September 16.

Separately, the Centre for Health Protection deleted five previously confirmed cases compatible with vaccine strain contamination, bringing the city’s overall tally to 12,112, with 212 related deaths.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×