Southeast Asia has begun studying a new strain of the coronavirus to see if it is more infectious than the original strain, Bloomberg reports. But it might not be new to everyone.
- The strain — called D614G — was originally found in a cluster of 45 cases out in Malaysia.
- The cluster began to spread from someone who recently returned from India, breaking a 14-day quarantine rule.
- The Philippines detected the new strain in random COVID-19 samples.
- This new mutation “is said to have a higher possibility of transmission or infectiousness, but we still don’t have enough solid evidence to say that that will happen,” Philippines’ Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Monday, according to Bloomberg.
Some extra notes:
But the strain has already been found in several other countries, becoming one of the dominant ones in the United States and Europe, according to Bloomberg. It also has been detected in China.
- The World Health Organization said there’s no evidence the strain leads to more severe cases.
Back in May, a study found that the coronavirus had mutated, becoming more contagious.
- The mutated strain — one of 14 identified in the study — first appeared in Europe in February. It reportedly delivered a higher viral load to COVID-19 patients than the earlier strains from Wuhan, China,