Malaysia detects new Covid strain that is 10 times more infectious

A new strain of the novel coronavirus called 'D614G', deemed ten times deadlier, has been detected in Malaysia, said Director General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah in a Facebook post on Saturday.

The mutation has been spotted in three cases from a cluster which started when a restaurant owner and permanent resident returned to the country from India. It has also been detected in another cluster case which started from an individual who returned from the Philippines.

Abdullah said that the strain could mean that existing studies on vaccines might be incomplete or ineffective against the mutation.