August 18, 2020: A specific strain of coronavirus appears to be the most recent outbreak in Southeast Asia, and scientists are looking to find out if the mutation is more infectious.
The strain, which originated in Europe and is the main variant in the United States, has returned to countries such as the Philippines and Malaysia, which are registering new instances of COVID-19, to Bloomberg News.
Scientists discovered the strain, called D614G, in a forty-five-case organization in Malaysia that came here from a user who had traveled to India and had not followed quarantine regulations upon his return.Researchers in the Philippines discovered the strain in COVID.-19 samples in Manila.The strain has also been discovered in recent outbreaks in China.
“People should be cautious and take more precautions because this strain has now been discovered in Malaysia,” Noor Hisham Abdullah, the country’s chief health, wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday.
He said the strain may be connected to “super spreader” events, but others are not so sure. They are still investigating whether the mutation may be more contagious or whether other people can simply pass it on more easily.
“We still don’t have enough false evidence to say this will happen,” Maria Rosario Vergeire, deputy secretary of physical fitness for the Philippines, said in a briefing on Monday, Bloomberg reported.
The D614G variant has the widest spread in the world, according to a study report published through the WHO in June. So far, the WHO has stated that there is no evidence that the mutation is more contagious or that it is leading to serious illness.
Still, the WHO report mentions that a mutation may just be the effectiveness of the vaccine. Another article, published in the journal Cell in July, also said that the mutation deserves to be considered in ongoing vaccine clinical trials. Essentially, the researchers want to fill in the “critical gaps,” wrote epidemiologists from the Yale School of Public Health, Harvard School of Public Health, and Columbia School of Public Health.
“Many questions about the potential impacts, if any, of the D614G on the COVID-19 pandemic,” they wrote.
Bloomberg News, “Southeast Asia detects a mutated strain of virus that ravages the world.”
Noor Hisham Abdullah, “Facebook Message at 12:34 p.m., August 15, 2020.”
WHO, “Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 Genome Variants”.
Cell, “Giving the mutation: what D614G means for the COVID-19 pandemic remains uncertain.”
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