Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – This week there is a publication of research in Malaysia. The study said the corona virus strain in Malaysia was much faster to spread than the original virus from Wuhan, China.
The type D614G mutation in SARS-COV-2, was discovered by the Malaysian Institute of Medical Research. D614G was discovered by scientists in July and has been said to be ineffective against a vaccine under development.
It seems that apart from Malaysia, there are three other countries in Southeast Asia that have reported a new coronavirus mutation that is more contagious than what first appeared in the city of Wuhan, China. The four countries are Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and most recently Myanmar.
His name is the mutated and highly contagious corona virus: D614G. Also called the “G” mutation, D614G is a variation of the original strain of the coronavirus that was first detected in Wuhan in December last year.
1. Malaysia
On Sunday (16/8/2020), Malaysian health authorities reported that the D614G mutation had been detected in Malaysia. The mutation called the most contagious was found by the Malaysian Institute of Medical Research, from four cases between two clusters or groups of COVID-19 in the country.
“The Sivagangga group and the Ulu Tiram group,” said Noor Hisham Abdullah, Director General of Health as quoted by The Straits Times.
“It was found to be 10 times more contagious and easily spread by individual ‘super-spreaders’,” he added when talking about the Corona mutation variant.
2. Filipina
Researchers in the Philippines, through the Philippine Genome Center (PGC), reported a new virus variant that is believed to be much more contagious, namely D614G. PGC confirmed the presence of this D614G in a small sample of positive cases from Quezon City.
Previously, infectious disease expert Dr Edsel Salvana said the spike in infection cases in July was likely partly due to this variant. This was possible, even though at that time a variant of this mutation had not yet been detected in that country.
“The D614G mutation makes the virus more contagious. It could spread faster and overwhelm our health care system, if we don’t double up on control efforts and it could lead to a high overall death toll,” said Dr Salvana, quoted by GMA News Online, Wednesday ( 19/8/2020).
3. Singapore
Apart from Malaysia, it turns out that the mutation variant of the Corona D614G virus was also found in Singapore. Representative from the Singapore Science, Technology and Research Agency, Dr Sebastian Maurer-Stroh, said the country had taken precautions to prevent the spread of Corona in relation to this mutation variant found.
“However, current containment or preventive measures have prevented the spread of this virus on a large scale,” explained Dr Maurer-Stroh, quoted by Channel News Asia on Wednesday (19/8/2020).
“Because this variant has been circulating globally, it can exist in any country. And every country with active supervision has seen it, especially with regard to imported cases from migrants,” he continued.
According to Dr Maurer-Stroh, although this virus has mutated, the mutation does not always become malignant. This mutation actually makes the virus harmless.
4. Myanmar
Myat Htut Nyunt, deputy director of Myanmar’s Department of Medical Research, said the strain was the same as the mutation detected earlier this week in Malaysia, which has been found in Europe, North America and parts of Asia, and is more contagious.
“So, we want to tell people that this type of virus has a faster transmission rate,” said Nyunt, Friday (21/8/2020), as quoted by Reuters.
The mutation is called D614G, a mutation of the Corona virus G chain. Most of the recent cases have occurred in the City of Sittwe.
Local authorities have issued stay-at-home orders and imposed a curfew. Domestic airlines suspended service between Sittwe and Yangon.
(hps / hps)
– .
