“We detected a novel strain descended from cluster 20C and defined by five mutations (ORF1a: I4205V, ORF1b:D1183Y, S: S13I;W152C;L452R)(Figure 1). This strain, CAL.20C, was first observed in July 2020 in 1/1230 samples from LA county and not detected in Southern California again until October. Since then, this strain’s prevalence has increased absolutely and relatively in Southern California, where by December it accounted for 24% of all samples (Figure 2A) and 36.4% (66/181) of our local Los Angeles cohort.”
