Covid-19: Tawar cluster cases could have been caused by mutated D614G strain

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 25): The Ministry of Health suspects that the Covid-19 cases from the Tawar cluster in Kedah and Penang could have been caused by the highly infectious D614G mutation.

However, this will be verified through laboratory tests, health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said at a media briefing today.

D614G is 10 times likely to infect other individuals and easier to spread by super spreader individuals, Noor Hisham previously said.

He had on Aug 16 disclosed that the Institute for Medical Research had detected a D614G-type mutation of Covid-19 in the culture tests of samples taken from three cases from the Sivagangga cluster in Kedah and one case from the Ulu Tiram cluster in Johor.

Bernama had quoted him as saying that the D614G mutation was first detected in July, and studies may reveal that any existing vaccine is ineffective against the mutation.

Referring to the three cases from the Sivagangga cluster, Noor Hisham today said: “We have seen that the Sivagangga cluster has no new cases over two weeks, but laboratory tests have found that there were three positive cases which have D614G mutation.”

Malaysia recorded 11 new Covid-19 cases as of noon today, five of them involving primary school pupils from the Tawar cluster.

This brought the total cases in the country to 9,285.

Source: TheEdgeMarkets