Coincide with a jump in cases
Indonesia: A mutated strain of Corona has been detected
Health workers carry a virtual coffin as part of a campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of "Corona". Reuters
The Aikman Institute of Molecular Biology, based in Jakarta, announced yesterday that it has detected a mutated strain more contagious than the emerging corona virus in Indonesia, at a time when the country is witnessing a rise in the number of cases.
Yesterday, the Indonesian Ministry of Health data showed that 2,858 new cases were recorded, which is less than the record number of 3,308 cases yesterday, but more than the average daily numbers recorded during the past month. The total number of cases reached 172053, and the number of deaths reached 7343.
The deputy director of the institute, Herawati Sodoyo, said that the D614G mutation of the virus is "contagious but less effective." It was found in the genome sequencing data of samples collected by the institute, adding that further study is needed to determine whether the mutation is the cause of the increase in cases in Recently.
And this strain, which the World Health Organization identified in February, and which is spreading in Europe and the Americas, was also found in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia. Syarizal Syarif, an epidemiologist at the University of Indonesia, called on citizens to remain vigilant, as the prevalence model indicates that the number of cases in the country may reach 500,000 by the end of the year.
"The situation is dangerous," he added. Local transmission is currently out of control ». He explained that the number of cases monitored daily would have been much higher if the laboratories were able to examine a greater number of samples daily. Yesterday, the capital, Jakarta, witnessed a record daily increase in the number of cases exceeding 1,000, which was linked by the city government to an increase in the movement of people during the celebration of the Independence Day in the middle of the month.
The D614G mutation of the virus is contagious but milder.