The World Health Organization added a Covid strain called Mu, which was first detected in Colombia in January, to its “Variants of Interest”list on Monday.

Why it matters: The WHO cautioned that information recommends protection from earlier contamination or vaccination may not be as solid against the Mu variation, adding that further exploration is expected to confirm that.

The big picture: The Mu variation, officially known as B.1.621, has a bunch of changes that “that indicate potential properties of immune escape,” WHO noted in its week after week epidemiological report.

The variation has up to this point been detected in 39 nations. Despite the fact that it makes up just 0.1% of worldwide COVID-19 cases, its predominance in South America has been rising, and it presently makes up 39% of cases in Colombia and 13% in Ecuador.

Be smart: The WHO defines Variants of Interest as having hereditary changes that influence infection characteristics like transmissibility,sickness seriousness and resistant break, while having critical local area transmission.

They contrast from Variants of Concern, which bring down the effectiveness of general wellbeing and social measures or diagnostics and therapeutics.