It is Still Unknown if New “Vietnam Variant” of COVID-19 Has Been Found in S’pore

For the past year or so, humans across the globe have had to cancel their travel plans thanks to border restrictions.

Fortunately for COVID-19, these restrictions don’t apply to viruses.

While we’ve been stuck in our houses, exhausting the endless list of TV shows on Netflix, the coronavirus has been holidaying in several parts of the world at once.

Because of its insatiable wanderlust, if a strain pops up in one country, it will soon make its way to many other countries.

Recently, the authorities in Vietnam said they detected a new strain of the virus.

If you’re wondering whether the strain has made its way here, well, it’s too soon to tell.

It is Still Unknown if New “Vietnam Variant” of COVID-19 Has Been Found in S’pore

And it’s not because we don’t have enough data on cases here; rather, we don’t have enough information on the new variant itself. 

That’s what Associate Professor Kenneth Mak, Singapore’s director of medical services, said yesterday during the COVID-19 task forces’ press conference.

Last Saturday (29 May), Vietnam’s Health Minister said the authorities had detected a new COVID-19 strain there believed to be a combination of variants first found in India and Britain.

The new strain can spread quickly through the air, the minister said.

But, as Prof Mak pointed out, Vietnam has not yet registered this new information with the global registry.

Singapore uses this registry to track viral strains that emerge around the world.

“So until it’s actually registered with the global registry, we don’t have enough information to tell what kind of specific variant of interest this is,” said Prof Mak.

Deletion of A Gene Detected

The authorities in Vietnam said they discovered that a particular gene in the variant had been deleted.

This gene codes for part of the spike protein on the B16172 variant—which is now officially dubbed Delta. (I wonder what this “Vietnam variant” will be called?)

But, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) pointed out, there’s no evidence to suggest that this deletion makes the virus more contagious or virulent.

This is why the organisation advised countries to exercise caution in interpreting the results.

As of now, Singapore has not seen this deletion in any cases here, Prof Mak said.

So, before the authorities can determine whether this variant is one of concern, they’ll need more information.

The coronavirus has already mutated more than 6,600 times, according to the Bioinformatics Institute at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

So, while there will be myriad strains roaming the globe, not all of them will be especially transmissible or deadly.

Feature Image: Andrii Vodolazhskyi / Shutterstock.com