SARS-CoV-2 Virus is Evolving to Adapt : A Fast Check Note

Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), a highly transmissible and pathogenic coronavirus, has spread at an alarming rate throughout the world since Dec. 2019, claiming 2.196 million deaths globally, as per 30th Jan. 2021, and the count is on. The reason behind this ongoing rapid transmission and global spread of SARS-CoV-2 is that the virus is evolving to become more transmissible as it spreads across the world due to its fast host migration. The virus is rapidly evolving to adapt to the different geo‑climate environments, diverse host immune systems, and other protective counter-measures (such as prolong host survival) by accumulating adaptive mutations, deletions, and recombination. This note focuses on those mutations and the prominent viral strains that are noteworthy for epidemiological and biological reasons.