Malaysian scientists discover ten times deadlier coronavirus strain, making it more infectious
Malaysian scientists alert about discovery of a much more scary COVID-19 strain
In a timespan of eight months, COVID-19 cases have breached 21.6 million infection cases. Ever since the first cluster of infection was discovered in Wuhan, China, COVID-19 has been impacting cities across the world differently. However, all of these have been mutating slowly and weren't much different from those originally sampled in China.
Now, Malaysian authorities have discovered a more infectious and mutant strain of the SARS-COV-2 virus under circulation, which could have more lasting consequences and bring larger threats to reality about the pandemic's uncertain end.
Newer COVID mutation in circulation?
A new mutation of the virus has been discovered in Malaysia when a man returning from India flouted his quarantine rules and infected over 45 people. When the 45 cases were treated, it was observed that at least 3 of the tested samples carried a much more severe mutation of COVID-19, termed D614G.
According to Noor Hisham Abdullah, Director General of Health, the said mutation, earlier observed in the US and parts of Europe could be much more dangerous and bring on unprecedented problems for the viral resurgence.
What do the findings suggest about COVID spread?
Although previous WHO findings have suggested that COVID mutations would be unlikely to cause severe damage, or hamper vaccine development, Dr Abdullah's findings suggest that people would have to exercise more caution and safety to suppress the spread of COVID-19. If the strain make its way from the US to Malaysia, this way, other countries could be at risk too, said Dr Abdullah, in a Facebook post which is now going viral:
“People need to be wary and take greater precautions because this strain has now been found in Malaysia. The people’s cooperation is very needed so that we can together break the chain of infection from any mutation.”
The newest cluster also heavily contributed to the spurt in the number of active cases in Malaysia, which, has so far been largely successful in curbing the growth of infections in the country.
What does a virus mutation mean?
The newest discovery has brought on focus on yet another way the world could be taking COVID-19 infection lightly.
A mutation refers to any change which takes place in a viral cell's genetic material. Viral diseases, like the flu, common cold, herpes, HPV, smallpox and other coronaviruses have been found to mutate as well.
Coronaviruses mutate more often than other vaccines
Even though mutations are a part of every virus's life cycle, they seldom do carry potential side-effects or threat to society during a viral outbreak like the current one. In some cases, the mutations can also lead to lower transmission and weaker spread or be neutral. Sometimes, the changes which kick in with the mutations could also be so slight that it becomes hard to notice.
That being said, RNA viruses, such as SARS-COV-2 are more likely to mutate than other viral strains and there is strong evidence which suggests that the coronavirus infection, too has been mutating way too often. The difference in the strains sampled from China to Italy and the USA are suggestive of the same.
COVID-19 strains have been mutating in the past as well
COVID-19 strains have been by and large, similar to the original strains, until one specific mutation, D614G was discovered. The earliest study regarding the same was done by scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the month of March when COVID-19 was starting to rapidly spread in countries like the US, which is now the epicentre of the outbreak globally. Another research done by the Scripps Research Institute in Florida found that the new mutation makes it easier to infect cells under laboratory settings.
COVID strain has been mutating 'slowly'
Novel coronavirus mutation, by far, has been mutating slowly. According to scientists, a big reason behind this is the low level of immunity present against the infection and non-availability of vaccines till now.
Though it is still unclear as to how the new mutation could actually impact human cells in a social setting, scientists do believe that this mutation, D614G may lead to stronger infection spurts and mortality risks. Whether or not the newest mutation could cause reinfection, slow down recovery or impact vaccine development is still to be studied.
Could this make COVID-19 more dangerous?
Even though the D614G mutation has been observed to be much more infectious than the existing ones, experts do suggest that mutations aren't that scary. Viruses mutate naturally and there's a very rare chance that a virus could mutate into something much more aggressive. RNA viruses, particularly, have been found to mutate into less weak versions so far. Mutations aren't way different from existing strains but do wade out on their own, as people get natural immunity.
Another body of research has found that the current talked about mutation, D614G, which was found in New York and sections of Italy has similar hospitalization rates as previous mutations of the SARS-COV-2 virus.
How will it impact vaccine development?
One of the biggest threats the vaccine mutation could pose is by affecting the development of vaccines, according to Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
Considering the number of candidates working on pushing out a COVID-19 vaccine right now (which is over a 110, globally), a mutation could put forward several shortcomings regarding such an expedited vaccine delivery.
Now, vaccines are usually made using early isolated strains of a specific virus. Despite Dr Abdullah's claims, experts believe that the mutation won't really make much of a difference to the way vaccines are being worked on right now.
Since mutations keep on changing through its life cycle, there's no proof that vaccines won't be effective. As long as the mutations are slow and not aggressive, vaccines could easily adapt to the changes and save populations from infections and possible reinfections. Flu and H1N1 vaccines work under similar notions.
Vaccines could still work protect the masses
According to scientists, vaccine prototypes even if made using 'older' version of the virus strains will preserve enough features to provide immunity for a longer time and hence, work well against any future mutations as well.
Even if the mutations do occur in the future, there's a higher chance that a workable COVID-19 vaccine could protect masses against the infection and there could only be few clusters or breakthrough infections which would have to be controlled using other means.
What other measures could slow down the virus?
The way mutations make their way into the crowd, whether or not they are dangerous can be controlled by interventions and non-pharmaceutical measures. In the past, strict curbs like lockdowns, social distancing and controls have been able to prevent the spread of the infection till a good extent. Scientists say that adopting a similar approach, going forward could help control mutations.