Covid strains from China, mutation more ‘infectious’ — RITM

THE Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) revealed that the main strains of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome –Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the country came from China.

In a statement, the RITM said there were two lineages of the SARS-CoV2 virus that were found in the first three cases recorded in the country in June. The other samples that were taken from the National Capital Region (NCR), Ilocos Sur, Rizal and Laguna, came from sub-lineages that were responsible for the outbreaks in different parts of the world.

The RITM said the first three cases in the country in January carried the original virus strain from China, called Lineage A and B, while some of the cases tested in the country came from Lineage B’s sub-lineages that caused the outbreaks in Europe and in the US.

“The local transmission of different lineages and strains may have been imported from multiple introductions of different lineages into the country,” RITM said in a statement.

The RITM said that only two cases from the samples collected in March came from travels in South Korea and Japan while the rest had no recent travel history outside the country. 

It also corroborated a statement by the Philippine Genome Center that a mutated strain of SARS-CoV2 identified as D614G was present in some samples collected from June and July in NCR and Laguna.

The D614G strain has been reported as the most infectious strain of the virus, but according to RITM, more studies are needed “to determine the impact of this mutation in transmission, disease severity and consequently to therapeutics and vaccines currently under development.” 

The RITM said the samples that have been sequenced by their laboratory and the PGC only represent a small picture of the transmissions of Covid-19 in the country, and that the collection of more samples and the establishment of more sequences would provide additional insight on how the virus is being spread within communities.

They added that it would “help health authorities have a better understanding of what mitigation and control measures are necessary. “

Source: TheManila Times