Mutated Strain Of Coronavirus Found In Indonesia; Country Reports Case Surge

A more infectious mutation of the novel coronavirus has been confirmed in Indonesia, a local organization confirmed on Sunday.

Jakarta-based Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology said that the D614G mutation of the novel coronavirus has been discovered in genome sequencing data from the samples that the institute collected. The news has come amid a surging number of COVID-19 cases in the country, with more than 2,850 new infections reported on Sunday.

Deputy Director at the Institute, Herawati Sudoyo, sais that there is a need to conduct a more extensive study to see if the recent surge in coronavirus cases in Indonesia is because of the new strain, which is infectious indeed but milder.

On Saturday, the country reported more than 3,300 cases. The numbers being reported are more than the last month’s daily average. So far, the country has reported a total of 172,053 cases with 7,343 deaths due to COVID-19.

D614G mutation of the novel coronavirus was first identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) in February 2020. This is the same strain that is more prevalent in the U.S. and across Europe. Recently, the strain was reported in the other two Asian countries, Singapore and Malaysia.

“The situation is serious. Local transmission currently is out of control,” said Syahrizal Syarif, an epidemiologist with the University of Indonesia.

Syarif further urged Indonesians to stay careful as his model anticipates the total coronavirus cases in Indonesia to rise to at least 500,000 by the end of 2020.

“There needs to be an awareness and a collective effort, be it from the government or the people, in addressing the rising number of cases,” said Dwi Oktavia, who works at the Jakarta health agency. The Indonesian capital reported a daily increase of more than 1,000 cases.