A new strain of COVID19 called ‘D614G’, which can infect others 10 times more and spread easily, has been detected in Malaysia, said Director General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah.
Abdullah made the revelation in a Facebook post on Saturday.
The mutation has been detected in 3 cases from a cluster that started when a restaurant owner and permanent resident returned to the country from India.
“As suspected D614G type mutation has been spotted from COVID-19 virus isolation test for three (3) cases from Cluster PUI Sivagangga (close contact to index case) and also a case from Cluster Ulu Tiram (i.e. individual from the Philippines),” Abdullah said in his post.
So far these two clusters are found quite controlled by the results of various fast-paced public health control actions in the field, he said.
“This test is an early test and there are several follow-up tests in progress to test several other cases, including index cases for both these clusters,” he added.
So, this means that people need to be aware and be more careful because the COVID19 virus with this D614G mutation has been proven to be detected in Malaysia, Abdullah said in the post.
It’s found “10 times easier to infect other individuals” and spread easily if infected by the individual ‘super spreader’, Abdullah asserted.
This D614G mutation was found by scientists in July 2020 and will probably lead to an existing vaccine study not to include or not effective in this mutation.
He said Malaysia’s main action is to secure public health, and asked the people to practice Covid-19 norms strictly, such as practicing good self-hygiene and protecting oneself in public places.
This mutation has now become the predominant variant in Europe and the US.
However, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said there is no evidence that the strain leads to more severe disease, say reports.
According to a paper in Cell, the mutation may not have a major impact on the efficacy of vaccines which are presently being developed