New Coronavirus Strain with 10-times the infection rate detected in Malaysia, Get Details Here

Malaysia has detected a strain of new Coronavirus which is ten times more infectious. The mutation called DG14G was earlier seen in other parts of the world.

The mutation has been found in at least three of the 45 cases in a cluster. It started from a restaurant owner who had returned from India and breached his 14-day home quarantine. He has since been sentenced to five months in prison and fined.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, top immunologist has informed that the new mutation may also speed up the spread of COVID-19. The strain has also been found in another cluster which involved people returning from the Philippines.

What does the detection of this new strain mean?

Noor Hisham Abdullah, Director-General of Health mentioned that the detected Coronavirus strain could mean that the existing studies on vaccines may be incomplete or ineffective against the mutation.

The mutation has also become the predominant variant in Europe and the United States, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) saying that there has been no evidence that the strain leads to more severe disease.

The paper which was published in Cell Press mentioned that the mutation is unlikely to have a major impact on the efficacy of vaccines which are currently being developed for COVID-19.

Need for extra precaution:

While sharing the information, Noor Hisham mentioned that people need to wary and must take greater precautions because the strain has been found in Malaysia. People’s cooperation is also required so that the chain of infection can be broken from any mutation.

As Malaysia has managed to prevent a resurgence of the virus seen elsewhere in the world, the number of new COVID-19 cases found in the country has been picking up. 26 new cases were confirmed on August 15, 2020, the most since July 28, and also added 25 cases on August 16.