Coronavirus spread among deer in US causes concern over new Covid-19 variants

With the discovery of coronavirus in Iowa’s white-tailed deer has triggered a new worry for the health experts in the US.

A report in New York Times said when the scientists sifted through frozen samples of the deer killed by hunters or cars in 2020, they found 60 per cent of them infected with the coronavirus.

What makes it more dangerous, according to healthcare experts, is the fact that there are 30 million of these animals, and they usually come in contact with humans.

Vivek Kapur, a microbiologist and infectious disease expert at the Pennsylvania State University, told NYT that his team has so far analysed samples from 4,000 dead deer and marked the location of each infected animal on a map.

Adaptation in animals is one route by which new variants are likely to emerge. Dr Casey Barton Behravesh, who directs the One Health Office at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the newspaper that for the United States this is a top concern right now.

The US reported its first case of Covid-19 in a deer back in August last year. But this fresh discovery has renewed concerns about a new wave of infection believed to be transmitted from animals.