Covid-19: Chinese scientists "create" mutant strain with 100 per cent lethality in mice

Chinese scientists have created a deadly new variant of Covid-19, according to reports.

Speculation is swirling around experiments being carried out in Beijing, where scientists are thought to have developed a mutant strain of Covid, which has been an unrelenting killer in tests on lab animals. The scientists, who have ties to the Chinese military, have sparked global concerns about their research sparking another pandemic.

This new mutation reportedly attacks the body differently than the likes of omicron or JN.1, instead focusing its attack on the brain.

Studies so far have claimed a 100 per cent mortality rate in infected mice.

Posting on social media, Professor Francois Balloux, an infectious disease expert from University College London, said: "It's a terrible study, scientifically totally pointless. I can see nothing of vague interest that could be learned from force-infecting a weird breed of humanized mice with a random virus.

"Conversely, I could see how such stuff might go wrong..."

According to researchers, the initial source of the mutation was found among pangolins in Malaysia in 2017, three years before the Covid-19 pandemic struck worldwide.