Covid-19 variations, South Korea testing 3 new mutations

SOUTH KOREA – According to the Korea Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), they have discovered three new mutated genome sequences of the Covid-19 virus on Monday (August 10).

The report came from the Yonhap News Agency, who shared that the mutations came from three imported cases – one from Uzbekistan and two from Pakistan.

KCDC chief Jeong Eun-kyeong said in a press conference, “(Three people) were self-isolated upon entering the country. There were no people who had contact with them in the country.”

The KCDC explained that these new mutations are different from the other 78,810 viral genome sequences that have been registered on the GISAID database, which is managed by the World Health Organization (WHO). These particular mutations were detected on the “spike protein,” which is how the virus breaks into human cells.

A BBC article was also posted last July 19 explaining that there had only been one mutation to the Covid-19 virus known as the D614G. This too, showed that it was also within the protein where they saw the virus’s “spike.”

Lab tests performed on the D614G virus mutation showed that the difference with the original version of the virus at the beginning of the pandemic and now is that it is ‘more transmissible.’

But despite the mutation, the vaccines that are already in development will not be negatively affected by it since it is based on a different region of the “spike.”

With the new mutations that have been identified in South Korea, chief Jeong of the KCDC explains that more tests still need to be done before they can say what the level of infection will be. /TISG