Malaysia Detects More Infectious Mutation Of Coronavirus, Believed To Be ‘10 Times’ Deadlier

Kuala Lumpur: A mutation of the deadly coronavirus that is far more infectious has been detected from two COVID-19 clusters in Malaysia, according to health authorities. “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 cases from Cluster PUI Sivagangga (close contact to index case) and also a case from Cluster Ulu Tiram (i.e. individual from the Philippines),” Noor Hisham Abdullah, health chief said in a Facebook post on Sunday (August 16).

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Dr Hisham said so far these two clusters have been found to be 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, said Dr Hisham.

According to him, it is found to be “10 times easier to infect other individuals and spread easily if spread by the individual ‘super spreader ‘.”

The latest COVID-19 situation is found still controlled and KKM and other agencies are still working to stem COVID-19. Community cooperation is very much needed so that we can decide the contagion of COVID-19 infection from any kind of mutation, he said.

According to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University, the number of coronavirus cases worldwide has risen to 21,706,031 while the death toll has gone up to 775,926.

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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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