D614G - a new strain of the novel coronavirus has been detected by scientists in Malaysia. The new strain is believed to be 10 times more infectious than the novel coronavirus, said Director General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah in a Facebook post on Saturday. The mutation has been spotted in three cases from a cluster that started when a restaurant owner and permanent resident returned to the country from India. It has also been detected in another cluster case which started with returnees from the Philippines.
According to Abdullah's Facebook post, the 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.
This mutation has now become the predominant variant in Europe and the US. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that there there is no evidence that the strain leads to a more severe disease.
According to a paper in 'Cell Press' the mutation may not have a major impact on the efficacy of vaccines that are presently being developed.
Director General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah's Facebook post
"Latest recent results received from the Laboratory Medical Research Institute (IMR): 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).
So far these two clusters are found quite controlled by the results of various fast-paced public health control actions in the field. 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.
So, this means that people need to be aware and be more careful because the COVID-19 virus with this D614G mutation has been proven to be detected in Malaysia. It's found 10 times easier to infect other individuals and spread easily if spread by the individual ' super spreader '.
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.
Therefore, our main action is still in the method of using prevention and control of public health which is disciplined in practicing the fully-set SOP which is, physical lock, high self-hygiene especially washing hands with water and soap, as well as wearing facial pelitup especially in public places, crowded places, closed places and when close chats.
The latest COVID-19 situation is found still controlled and KKM and other agencies are still working to stem the COVID-19. Community cooperation is much needed so that we can decide the contagion of COVID-19 infection from any kind of mutation."
