Europe’s 10x More Infectious Coronavirus Strain Found In Malaysia

The European coronavirus strain has been detected in Malaysia and it is being said that the strain identified is 10 times more infectious than the other variations . The same strain of the virus is also said to be predominant in the U.S. as well.

The mutation in novel coronavirus called D614G was identified in three cases out of the 45 patients linked to a cluster that initiated from a restaurant owner who was returning from India but breached the normal requirement for 14-day home quarantine. The same strain was also discovered among people returning from the Philippines.

The Director-General of Health in Malaysia, Noor Hisham Abdullah, said that the presence of strain indicates that the current studies being conducted on coronavirus vaccines may remain incomplete and such vaccines may be incapable of preventing coronavirus disease.

“People need to be wary and take greater precautions because this strain has now been found in Malaysia,” Abdullah wrote in a post on social media platform Facebook. “The people’s cooperation is very needed so that we can together break the chain of infection from any mutation.”

The same coronavirus mutation or variant had predominantly been found in Europe as well as the U.S. While the World Health Organization (WHO) says that there is no evidence that this particular coronavirus variant leads to more severe disease, several public health experts say that it is deadlier.

So far, Malaysia has been able to control the coronavirus pandemic, however, there has been a slight increase in the number of cases recently. About 26 cases were confirmed on Saturday, Aug. 15, which is the maximum since July 28. About 25 new cases were diagnosed the following day, that is, on Sunday.