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A more infectious mutation of the coronavirus has been found in Indonesia as cases in the country rise.
The South Asian country reported 2,858 new infections on Sunday, data from the Health Ministry showed, below the record of 3,308 the day before but above the daily average last month.
Its total number of cases was 172,053, with 7,343 deaths from Covid-19.
The virus’s “infectious but milder” D614G mutation has been found in genome sequencing data from samples collected by the institute, Deputy Director Herawati Sudoyo said, adding that more studies are required to determine if that’s behind the recent increase in cases.
The strain, which according to the World Health Organization was identified in February and has been circulating in Europe and America, has also been found in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.
It is said to be 10 times more infectious than others, but it appears to be less deadly.
Syahrizal Syarif, an epidemiologist at the University of Indonesia, cautioned that Indonesians should remain vigilant, as his modeling suggests that the country may see its number of cases rise to 500,000 by the end of the year.
(Image: Getty)
“The situation is dire … Local transmission is currently out of control,” Syarif said, adding that the number of infections found daily could have been much higher if laboratories could process more samples in one day.
The capital Jakarta on Sunday saw a record daily increase of more than 1,000 cases, which the city government linked to a higher rate of mobility during an independence celebration in mid-August.
“There needs to be a collective conscience and effort, be it from the government or the people, to address the growing number of cases,” said Dwi Oktavia, an official with the Jakarta health agency, in a statement, urging the people to stay home and wear a mask when they must go out.
Paul Tambyah, president-elect of the International Society for Infectious Diseases in the United States, said there is evidence that the new strain coincides with a drop in death rates, suggesting that it is less lethal.
He said that most viruses tend to get less severe as they mutate.
“Maybe it is good to have a virus that is more infectious but less deadly,” he said.
“The virus is interested in infecting more people, but not killing them because a virus depends on the host for food and shelter.”
Earlier this month, Noor Hisham Abdullah, Malaysia’s chief health officer, urged people to be more vigilant after what is believed to be the D614G strain was found in two recent groups in the country.
He said the new strain was 10 times more infectious, but cautioned that vaccines currently in development might not be effective against it.
However, Dr. Tambyah disagreed, saying that the mutations would not change the virus enough to make potential vaccines less effective.
He said: “The mutant affects the binding of the spike protein and not necessarily the recognition of the protein by the immune system, which would be prepared by a vaccine.”
Last month Professor Nick Loman, who is part of the Covid-19 Genomics Consortium, said that D614G is the most dominant in the world and is spreading faster in the UK than the original Wuhan strain in China.
Professor Loman, who works at the University of Birmingham, also said that the D614G does not appear to be that deadly.
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