New Covid variant IHU detected in France

Scientists have identified a new strain of the Covid-19 causing virus. This virus called ‘IHU’ has been found in South France.
Even as the world grapples with the highly mutated ‘Omicron’ variant, researchers at institute IHU Mediterranee have reported infection of this B.1640.2 variant to at least 12 people.
The new variant has been linked to travel to African country Cameroon.
The study of the variant posted on the preprint repository revealed that IHU has 46 mutations and 37 deletions resulting in 30 amino acid substitutions and 12 deletions. Amino acids are molecules that combine to form proteins and both are building blocks of life.
The new variant has not been identified in any other country so far or has not been labeled a variant under investigation by the World Health Organisation.
Researchers say that the first case of the new IHU variant of SARS-CoV-2 was diagnosed positive by RTPCR performed in a laboratory on a nasopharyngeal sample collected in mid-November. However, they have noted that it is too speculate on how this variant behaves as far as infection and protection from vaccines is concerned.