Researchers Found The Most Dominant Coronavirus Strain In The Philippines
MOST DOMINANT CORONAVIRUS STRAIN – Researchers at the Philippine Genome Center reported a new coronavirus mutation in the Philippines.
According to their study, the new mutation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus dubbed as G614 has almost completely replaced the first version named D614. This makes the COVID-19 mutation in the Philippines the most dominant coronavirus strain in the entire world.
Based on an article from CNN, the researchers reported that the strain was discovered from a small sample of positive cases from Quezon City. But, this was not the case in the previous months.
During the early days of the virus outbreak in the Philippines, researchers collected the D614G variant of the coronavirus. However, a new strain was discovered in June. Both the D614 and the G614 were found in a small sample of positive cases.
As per the article, the Philippine Genome Center said:
“Although this information confirms the presence of G614 in the Philippines, we note that all the samples tested were from Quezon City and may not represent the mutational landscape for the whole country“
In July, an international team of researchers collected indicative evidence that the new coronavirus strain is more infectious. Meanwhile, a global study published in the medical journal “Cell” said the new strain multiplies faster in the respiratory tract, nose, sinus, and throat.
However, patients infected with the new strain were not more severely affected. Although, the spread of the virus with the new strain had significantly been increased due to the faster multiplication in the upper respiratory tract.
Currently, there had been 161,253 cases of COVID-19 reported in the Philippines. Of that number, over 2600 have died while 112,586 have recovered due to DOH’s “mass recovery” initiatives.
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