It contains two key mutations, which scientists call E484Q and L452R, that have been found separately in other variants but not together in a single strain, according to Dr.

"There's a decent amount of information of how these mutations behave in viruses on their own, but not in combination," Pinsky said in an interview.

In other variants, the L452R mutation has been shown to make the virus more transmissible.

"But you'd expect that in combination with L452R that there may be an increase in transmission as well as reduction in antibody neutralization," Pinsky said.

If the mutation makes the virus more resistant to antibodies, that could reduce the effectiveness of both vaccines as well as antibody treatments that have become a critical tool for doctors in fighting Covid-19, according to Pinsky.

Eli Lilly's bamlanivimab antibody treatment has been shown to be less effective in treating strains that contain the E484Q or L452R mutations.

The double mutant variant "has known mutations in the scariest place to have a mutation — the receptor binding domain, where the virus uses to latch on to cells in our bodies in order to enter," said Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious diseases expert at the University of California San Francisco.

Tom Kenyon, chief health officer at Project HOPE and former director of global health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said scientists are finding more mutations, at least in part, because new CDC Director Dr.

There's a possibility the new variant will stay in the Bay Area, unlike the B.1.1.7 variant from the United Kingdom that has become the predominant strain just about anywhere it goes, Chin-Hong said.