The coronavirus strains collected from patients in China, Italy and Iran are different from one another.

News by China government and research by Eurosurveillance and bioRxiv confirm that different strains of the virus are spread in China, Italy and Iran.

News by China government and research by Eurosurveillance and bioRxiv confirm that different strains of the virus are spread in China, Italy and Iran.As per the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China, a study was conducted by scientists from Peking University, Shanghai University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences on the novel coronavirus. They found that there were two major subtypes of the coronavirus strains named L and S.

As per the research article published by Eurosurveillance, COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 had started around mid-December 2019 in the city of Wuhan. As per the study, the full-length genomes of two SARS-CoV-2 strains were isolated in Italy, one from an Italian patient, the other from a Chinese tourist who was visiting Rome. Comparison of the viral genome sequence of the Chinese tourist had two differences, while that of the Italian patient had four.

As per bioRxiv, a study conducted in the Australian lab shows that strains of SARS-CoV-2 from China were dispersed across the globe. The cases of COVID-19 found in Australia, occurring between 24 and 26 January 2020, who had travelled from Iran had related but slightly different strain of the virus than that of the prototype strain from Wuhan, China.

The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a lot of potentially dangerous misinformation. For reliable advice on COVID-19 including symptoms, prevention and available treatment, please refer to the World Health Organisation or your national healthcare authority.