Nowadays, the coronavirus which was discovered for the first time in Wuhan, China, is known to have mutated. One of the mutation variants that have been found is D614G.
The study found that the mutated variant of the coronavirus was contagious up to 10 times, and the spread is much faster than before. The mutation variant of the virus was discovered at the end of February 2020. Initially, the mutation was found in Europe, the United States, and also found in several Asian countries.
This is the rows of countries in Asia that have found the D614G mutation variant, quoted from various sources.
- Malaysia
On Sunday, August 16, 2020, Malaysian health authorities reported that the D614G mutation had been detected in Malaysia. The mutation was found by the Malaysian Institute of Medical Research, from four cases between the two COVID-19 clusters or groups in that country.
Noor Hisham Abdullah, Director General of Health as quoted by The Straits Times said that the cluster comes the Sivagangga group and the Ulu Tiram group.
“It was found to be 10 times more contagious,” Mr. Noor said when talking about the coronavirus mutation variant. - Philippines
Researchers in the Philippines, through the Philippine Genome Center (PGC), reported a new virus variant that was believed to be much more contagious, namely D614G.
PGC confirmed the presence of the D614G in a small sample of positive cases from Quezon.
Previously, the infectious disease expert Dr. Edsel Salvana said the spike in infection cases in July 2020 was likely partly due to this variant, even though at that time a variant of this mutation had not yet been detected in that country.
“The D614G mutation makes the virus becomes more contagious. It could spread faster and overwhelm our health care system if we don’t try to double up on control efforts, and it could lead to a high overall death toll,” said Dr. Salvana, quoted from GMA News Online on Wednesday, August 19, 2020. - Singapore
The mutation variant of the coronavirus D614G virus was also found in Singapore. A representative from the Singapore Science, Technology, and Research Agency, Dr. Sebastian Maurer-Stroh, said the country had taken precautions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in connection with this mutation variant found.
“However, the current containment or preventive measures have prevented the spread of this virus on a large scale,” explained Dr. Maurer-Stroh, as quoted from Channel News Asia on Wednesday, August 19, 2020.
“Because the 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 the coronavirus virus has mutated, the mutation does not always become malignant.
