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An increased mutation in the new coronavirus “may be a good thing,” a senior expert said.
Paul Tambyah, senior consultant at the National University of Singapore and president-elect of the International Society of Infectious Diseases, said a mutation in the coronavirus that has toured Europe, North America and parts of Asia could infect more people, but it kills fewer.
The new strain, known as D614G, has recently appeared in Malaysia and the Philippines.
Tambyah said evidence suggests the proliferation of the D614G mutation in some parts of the world has coincided with lower death rates, suggesting it is less fatal, in an interview with Reuters,
“Maybe it’s a good thing to have a more infectious but less deadly virus,” he said.
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Tambyah’s comments come after Malaysia’s chief health officer Noor Hisham Abdullah on Sunday urged people to take more precautions as the strain has now been found in the country.
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Afterwards, Abdullah said the D614G strain was 10 times more likely to infect others than that reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. It is also more easily spread by so-called super-spreader individuals. “The cooperation of the people is absolutely necessary so that we can together break the chain of infection of any mutation,” he wrote.
Still, Tambyah said, even if the virus mutates, that won’t make potential vaccines less effective.
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Research conducted in June by scientists at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida found that D614G significantly increased the number of functional peaks on the viral surface. These peaks allow the virus to bind and infect cells.
“The number – or density – of functional peaks on the virus is four or five times higher due to this mutation,” said Scripps virologist Hyeryun Choe, lead author of the study.
The World Health Organization said there was no evidence the strain led to more serious illness, Reuters noted.
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