The Philippine Genome Center (PGC) has spotted a particular strain of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country that is believed to be “globally dominant” and is speculated to be more infectious compared to other strains.
The PGC confirmed the presence of D614G or the “G” variant within a small sample of COVID-19 positive patients at Quezon City in Luzon.
“Together with the observation that G614 is now the dominant viral state, the authors claim that the said mutation can increase the viral rate of transmission,” according to the first SARS-CoV-2 bulletin of PGC.
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The PGC furthered that while there’s no definitive evidence that the G variant is more transmissible, they advise that constant monitoring should be in place to prepare for containment strategies and other requirements to help curb its spread, as per reports from GMA News.
“Nevertheless, considering the presently wide geographic spread of G614, continuous monitoring of the said mutation… must be done in order to better understand the evolutionary trajectory of SARS-CoV-2 to inform containment, diagnostic, and therapeutic strategies,” said the PGC.
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Infectious diseases expert Dr. Edsel Salvana speculates that the huge spike of COVID-19 cases in July may have been caused by the aforementioned G variant.
“The D614G mutation makes the virus more infectious… It can spread faster and overwhelm our healthcare system if we don’t double our control efforts and so it can lead to a higher number of overall deaths,” warned Dr. Salvana.
