Source: NIAID-RML
Southeast Asia has to deal with a strain of the new coronavirus that the Philippines, which has the region’s largest outbreak, is investigating to see if the mutation makes it more infectious.
The strain, formerly seen in other parts of the world and named D614G, was found in a Malaysian cluster of 45 cases ranging from one who returned from India and broke his 14-day home quarantine. The Philippines discovered the strain among random Covid-19 samples in the largest city of its capital region.
The mutation “is said to have a higher chance of transmission than infection, but we do not yet have enough solid evidence to say that that will happen,” Philippines’s Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a virtual briefing on Monday.
Fauci Sies New mutation may accelerate the spread of Coronavirus
The strain has been found in many other countries and has become the predominant variant in Europe and the US, with the World Health Organization saying there is no evidence that the strain leads to a more serious disease. The mutation has also been discovered in recent outbreaks in China.
There is no evidence from epidemiology that the mutation is significantly more infectious than other strains, said Benjamin Cowling, head of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Hong Kong. “It is now more frequently identified than in the past, suggesting that it may have some competitive advantage over other strains of Covid-19,” he said.
Because Southeast Asian countries are taking various steps to prevent a resurgence in reopening restricted travel, they are fighting with people who violate quarantine rules after returning from abroad, such as false negative test results at borders.
The man who returned from India had tested negative when he arrived in Malaysia. He has since been sentenced to five months in prison and fined for breach of quarantine.
People Collaboration
“People need to be careful and take greater precautionary measures because this strain is now found in Malaysia,” Health Director General Noor Hisham Abdullah wrote in a Facebook post post, saying that the strain can make it 10 times more infectious without indicating a study. “The cooperation of humans is very much needed so that together we can break the chain of infection through each mutation.”
The strain ”is perhaps a little more contagious. We do not yet have enough evidence to evaluate that, but there is no evidence that it is any more contaminating, ”said Cowling of the University of Hong Kong.
Noor Hisham warned that the strain could mean existing research on vaccines may be incomplete or ineffective against the mutation. That is even as a paper published in Cell Press said the mutation is unlikely to have a significant impact on the effectiveness of vaccines currently being developed.
Although Malaysia has for the most part managed to prevent a recurrence of the virus seen elsewhere in the world, the number of new cases found in the country has been recorded. The country reported 26 new cases on Saturday, the most since July 28.
Confirmed cases in the Philippines have increased 76% since the end of July to a total of 164,474 as of Monday. It took Indonesia more than a week ago to become the country with the biggest outbreak in Southeast Asia.
– With the help of Clarissa Batino, and Jason Gale
(Updates by with penalties found in the Philippines.)
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