COVID-19 infectious mutation may be ‘a good thing’, disease specialist says

SINGAPORE, Aug. 18 (Reuters) – A mutation in the novel coronavirus increasingly common across Europe and recently detected in Malaysia may be more infectious but appears less fatal, according to a prominent infectious disease physician.

Paul Tambyah, senior consultant at the National University of Singapore and president-elect of the US-based International Society of Infectious Diseases, said the D614G mutation was also found in Singapore.

The city-state’s health ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tambyah said there is evidence that the proliferation of the mutation in Europe has coincided with lower death rates, suggesting it is less lethal.

The mutation is not likely to impact the efficacy of a potential vaccine, despite warnings to the contrary from other health experts, he added.

“Maybe it’s a good thing to have a more infectious but less deadly virus,” Tambyah told Reuters.

Tambyah said most viruses tend to become less virulent as they mutate.

“It is in the interest of the virus to infect more people but not to kill them because a virus depends on the host for its food and shelter,” he said.

Scientists discovered the mutation as early as February and it circulated in Europe and the Americas, the World Health Organization said. The WHO also said there was no evidence the mutation led to more serious illness.

Malaysia’s chief health officer Noor Hisham Abdullah on Sunday called for greater public vigilance after authorities detected what they believe to be the D614G mutation of the coronavirus in two recent groups.

Noor Hisham said the new strain detected was 10 times more infectious and vaccines currently in development may not be effective against this mutation.

But Tambyah said such mutations likely wouldn’t change the virus enough to make potential vaccines less effective.

“The mutant affects the binding of the spike protein and not necessarily the recognition of the protein by the immune system, which would be initiated by a vaccine,” he said. (Report by John Geddie and Chen Lin edited by Lincoln Feast.)