https://twitter.com/_/status/1388963226231181320

Recent data indicate the prevalence of variants with N440K Spike substitution in several parts of India, which is under the second wave of the pandemic.

Here, we first analyze the prevalence of N440K variants within the sequences submitted from India and identify a rising trend of its spread across various clusters. We then compare the replicative fitness and infectivity of a prototype of this variant with two other previously prevalent strains. The N440K variant produced ten times higher infectious viral titers than a prevalent A2a strain, and over 1000 folds higher titers than a much less prevalent A3i strain prototype in Caco2 cells.

[link to www.biorxiv.org (secure)]