SINGAPORE - The latest coronavirus variant to raise concern, Delta Plus, has not been detected in Singapore, said the director of medical services Kenneth Mak on Thursday (June 24).
He said the Covid-19 task force will continue to keep a lookout and monitor the situation here.
Delta Plus is the Delta variant of the coronavirus with an additional mutation in a particular spike protein K417N.
The first case was detected in India in April, and cases have since been found in other countries including the United States, Britain, Japan, Portugal and Nepal.
Delta Plus has been labelled as a variant of concern by the Indian government after evidence suggested that it is more transmissible, with the virus binding more strongly to lung cells and being potentially resistant to treatment and vaccines as well as immunity from previous Covid-19 infection.
Speaking at a press conference by the multi-ministry task force on Covid-19, Associate Professor Mak said there have been two versions of Delta Plus - the AY1 version that has been reportedly mainly in Europe, and the AY2 version that has been reported in various places including the US.
“For every case that we diagnose, where possible, we will be carrying out phylogenetic studies and look out for the specific variant causing these infections, and we will certainly be on the lookout for any Delta Plus variant as it has been reported,” he added in response to a question raised by The Straits Times on whether the variant has been spotted in Singapore.
Phylogenetics studies the evolutionary relationship between species.
The World Health Organisation characterises the variant of Sars-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19, as a variant of interest if it has been identified to cause community transmission or multiple cases, or has been detected in multiple countries.
A variant of concern is one that shows evidence of higher transmissibility and virulence, leading to more severe disease that requires hospitalisation and causes deaths.
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