Malaysia detects COVID-19 strain that is '10 times' more infectious

VCG

Malaysia has detected a strain of the novel coronavirus that is "10 times" more infectious, the country's Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said on his Facebook on Sunday.

He warned 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," which is "10 times easier to infect other individuals and spread easily if spread by the individual ' super spreader ',"he wrote.

Screenshot from the Facebook page of Noor Hisham Abdullah, Health Ministry Director-General of Malaysia.

The D614G mutation was detected by scientists at the Malaysian Institute for Medical Research, as a result of isolation and culture tests on three cases from the country's Sivagangga cluster and one case from the Ulu Tiram cluster, according to him.

So far the two clusters are controlled as the result of swift public health control actions, he said.

The mutation will likely affect ongoing vaccine study, he wrote.

**India identified 73 new variants of COVID-19 strain **

On Saturday, a team of Indian researchers said that they have identified 73 new variants of COVID-19 strain, reported

The Times of India.

"The research team, which carried out sequencing of 1,536 samples including 752 clinical samples, reported two lineages – B.1.112 and B.1.99 – for the first time in India," Dr Jayashankar Das, the head investigator of study said.

He added that the detailed character of the novel coronavirus will be helpful in treating patients and curing the disease.