Japanese research finds mutant SARS-CoV-2

Reporter : Hua  Yi / Publisher : Xinhua News Agency via ScienceNet

Ref : http://news.sciencenet.cn/htmlnews/2020/8/443890.shtm

Translation, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA

According to the statistics of NHK, as of 8 pm Japan time on 8 August 2020, 1565 new cases of covid were newly confirmed in Japan on that day. The increase in cases exceeds 1,500. According to Japanese media reports on the same day, the country’s latest research found that a mutated covi with a new genome sequence has appeared in Japan since mid-June.

Statistics show that Japan has a total of 47,464 confirmed cases and a total of 1042 deaths. On 8 August, Tokyo has newly confirmed 429 cases, with a total of 15,536 confirmed cases. There were also 178 cases in Osaka Prefecture, 177 cases in Aichi Prefecture, 150 cases in Fukuoka Prefecture and 128 cases in Kanagawa Prefecture that day. On the same day, 39 of the 47 prefectures and prefectures in Japan reported new confirmed cases; the US military stationed in Okinawa reported 7 new confirmed cases, with a total of 310 confirmed cases.

According to a report from the "Yomiuri Shimbun" that day, the latest study by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Japan found that SARS-CoV-2 that has spread in Japan since June is a mutated novel coronavirus with a new genetic sequence. According to the study, the spread of the epidemic in Japan since March this year was mainly caused by covi with related gene sequences in Europe but it temporarily subsided in late May. Starting in mid-June, covi with a new gene sequence appeared centered in Tokyo, and it spread throughout the country. At present, most of the large number of confirmed patients in Japan are infected with this novel coronavirus after mutation.

Statistics from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan on 8 August showed that 31,307 confirmed cases in Japan have been discharged from hospital or ended quarantine. The cumulative number of people tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is about 986,000, an increase of about 24,000 from the previous day.