Specimen collection for SARS-CoV-2 testing in the northern province of Hai Duong. (Photo: VNA)The virus found in the 28-year-old Patient 1660 from the northern province of Hai Duong has 17 signature mutations of the super-spreader B.1.1.7 strain that has caused recent spike in COVID-19 cases in the UK and the Europe, according to an analysis by a group of researchers from the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City and the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU).
The patient is under treatment at the city’s Cu Chi Field Hospital.
The strain is believed to be more easily transmissible than the original one and it is highly likely that it is the dominant source of infection in Hai Duong, Vietnam’s largest COVID-19 hotspot at the moment where more than 200 new cases have been detected since January 27.
Vietnam reported one COVID-19 infection in Hai Duong over the last 12 hours, from 6:00pm on February 1 to 6:00am from February 2, according to the National Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control.
The new case took the national count to 1,851, including 964 community infections. The number of cases linked to fresh COVID-19 outbreaks since January 27 reached 271. Fatalities remained at 35./.
VNA
