In June, Houston was gripped by the coronavirus pandemic – but with a mutated form of the COVID-19 virus which evolved somewhere else in the world and is known to be even more contagious, a study has revealed.

The study was first reported by the Washington Post and looks at virus samples from two different Covid-19 waves in the Houston area during the period around June.

The study found that patients with a particular strain of the coronavirus contained more virus particles which imply that they were more infectious.

The mutation did not appear to make the virus more dangerous or change patients’ outcomes, according to the study.