New Coronavirus Strain D614G, 10 Times More Infectious Than COVID-19, Found in Malaysia
A strain of the new coronavirus that’s been found to be 10 times more infectious than COVID-19 has been found in Malaysia.
Putrajaya, August 17: A strain of the new coronavirus that’s been found to be 10 times more infectious than COVID-19 has been found in Malaysia. The mutation called D614G was detected in at least three of the 45 COVID-19 cases in a cluster that started after a restaurant owner breached his 14-day home quarantine post his return from India. The strain was also found in another cluster involving people returning from the Philippines. COVID-19 Patients With Heart Problems More Likely to Die: Study.
"People need to be wary and take greater precautions because this strain has now been found in Malaysia," Director-General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday. "The people’s cooperation is very needed so that we can together break the chain of infection from any mutation," he added. Noor Hisham also opined that the detection of strain could possibly mean that existing studies on vaccines for coronavirus may be incomplete or ineffective against the mutation. Asymptomatic COVID-19 Patients Less Likely to Infect Close Contacts: Study.
The World Health Organization (WHO), however, has said there is no evidence the strain leads to a more severe disease. A paper published in Cell Press mentioned that the mutation is unlikely to have a major impact on the efficacy of vaccines currently being developed by various countries. While Malaysia has largely managed to prevent a second wave of the coronavirus outbreak, the number of new cases is slowly picking up in the country.
Malaysia Detects New Coronavirus Strain D614G:
Until August 17 at 12:00 pm, there are 12 new cases reported in Malaysia. This makes the total COVID-19 positive cases in Malaysia as much as 9,212 cases. At least 17 people recovered today. The total cumulative total cases recovered from COVID-19 is 8,876 cases (96.4 percent of the total cases).
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 17, 2020 03:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).