New, more infectious strain of coronavirus now dominates global cases: Study

London, July 03: Scientists have shown that a variation in the genome of the novel coronavirus has improved its ability to infect human cells, and has helped it become the dominant strain circulating around the world.

According to the research, published in the journal Cell, a variant of the novel coronavirus, named 'D614G', is more infectious in cell cultures under laboratory conditions.

"The D614G variant first came to our attention in early April, as we had observed a strikingly repetitive pattern," said study lead author Bette Korber from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the US.