A new coronavirus variant has been discovered in the French region of Brittany, the country’s health ministry announced Monday.
Health ministry officials said the variant doesn’t appear to be any more lethal or transmissible than its counterparts.
The variant was discovered in a hospital in the commune of Lannion, Reuters reported.
It’s become somewhat of a race worldwide to complete vaccinations before newer, possibly deadlier variants of the virus take hold. Public health experts are openly wary of the mutations and their potential to undermine efforts to combat the coronavirus.
As of Tuesday, more than 120 million coronavirus cases have been reported worldwide, including roughly 2.7 million virus-related deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker. The U.S. leads the world in both categories with approximately 29.5 million cases and 536,000 deaths.