1. Malaysia has detected a strain of the virus that is 10 times more infectious than the previous strains and the original Wuhan strain.
2. The mutation was discovered in Malaysia when a man returning from India went against his quarantine rules and infected over 45 people. When the 45 cases were treated, it was observed that at least 3 of the tested samples carried a much more severe mutation of COVID-19, known as D614G.
3. The health chief of Malaysia, Noor Hisham Abdullah in a post on Facebook said that the latest recent results received from the Laboratory Medical Research Institute revealed that the suspected D614G type mutation had been spotted from COVID-19 virus isolation test for 3 cases from three clusters in Malaysia.
4. A Reuters report says that the mutation has increased the number of “spikes” on the coronavirus which in turn significantly increases its ability to infect human cells.
5. The researchers say that it is still unknown whether this small mutation affects the severity of symbols of infected people or increases mortality.
6. The D614G mutation strain is believed to be a predominant variant in Europe and the US as well.
7. The health chief said that the people need to be “aware and be more careful” as the virus can “spread easily if spread by the individual super spreader”.
8. People are advised to follow previous health procedures like hand hygiene, wearing of masks in public places, crowded or enclosed space.
