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A coronavirus mutation that has been found in the United States may be less deadly but more infectious than the original virus, an expert from Singapore said this week.
Paul Tambyah, the senior consultant at the National University of Singapore, said the D614G mutation has been linked to lower death rates, implying that it is less fatal, Reuters reported on Monday. This mutation was localized in Europe and North America as early as February and has since been confirmed in parts of Asia.
“Maybe it’s a good thing to have a more infectious but less deadly virus,” Tambyah, the president-elect of the International Society of Infectious Diseases, told the press service.
The infectious disease expert said most viruses become less deadly over time as they mutate to allow the virus to continue to live on individuals.
“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, according to Reuters.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said there is no evidence that the D614G mutation causes more serious illness.
Malaysia’s chief health officer Noor Hisham Abdullah has told residents to be more careful after authorities believe they found the strain in two clusters of infections, Reuters reported. He said the mutated virus was 10 times more infectious and warned that vaccines being created might not be effective against the strain.
Singapore also located the mutation, but Sebastian Maurer-Stroh of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research said the restrictions had prevented its spread.
Tambyah and Maurer-Stroh said the mutations likely wouldn’t modify the virus enough to make vaccines ineffective, according to the news service.
The coronavirus has infected more than 21.9 million people, killing at least 775,439, according to data from John Hopkins University.
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