Coronavirus: more infectious mutation could be 'a good thing'

Evidence suggests a growing mutation of the virus is making it far more infectious but also less deadly, a leading expert says

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People wait for a walk-up Covid-19 test at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. COVID-19 restrictions have been reintroduced across New Zealand after new COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in Auckland. Getty Images

Circus clown Jhona Zapata, whose performance name is "Jijolin," is reflected in the window of a home as he offers caramelized apples for sale, while circuses are closed during the lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19 in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. Zapata, 35, is selling circus food to help his family survive the economic shutdown. AP Photo

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An increasingly common mutation of the coronavirus found in Europe, North America and parts of Asia may be more infectious but appears to be less deadly, a prominent infectious diseases doctor said.

Paul Tambyah, a senior consultant at the National University of Singapore and president-elect of the International Society of Infectious Diseases, said evidence suggested the proliferation of the D614G mutation in some parts of the world has coincided with a drop in death rates, suggesting it is less lethal.

"Maybe that's a good thing to have a virus that is more infectious, but less deadly," Dr Tambyah said.

He said most viruses tended to become less virulent as they mutated.

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

Scientists discovered the mutation as early as February and it circulated in Europe and the Americas, the World Health Organisation said. It said there was no evidence the mutation led to more severe disease.

On Sunday, Malaysia's Director General of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah urged the public to show greater vigilance after authorities detected what they believe was the D614G mutation in two recent virus clusters.

Sebastian Maurer-Stroh of Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research said the variant was also found in the city-state but that containment measures prevented a large-scale spread.

Dr Noor Hisham said the D614G strain detected there was 10 times more infectious.

Vaccines currently in development may not be effective against the mutation, he said.

But Dr Tambyah and Mr Maurer-Stroh said such mutations would not likely change the virus enough to make potential vaccines less effective.

"The variants are almost identical and did not change areas that our immune system typically recognise, so there shouldn't be any difference for vaccines being developed," Mr Maurer-Stroh said.