Almost third of COVID-19 samples show mutation, but not more severe disease: WHO

GENEVA: Almost 30% of genome sequencing data from samples of the COVID-19 virus collected by the World Health Organization have shown signs of mutation, but there is no evidence that it has led to more severe disease, a top WHO official said on Friday.

"I think it's quite widespread," Soumya Swaminathan, WHO chief scientist, told Reuters on the sidelines of a briefing held by the UN journalists' association ACANU in Geneva.

The UN agency has so far collected 60,000 samples of the disease, she said.