Is Coronavirus Mutating? New Cases In China Are Reportedly Taking Longer To Recover

Presently in China, doctors are noticing the coronavirus behave differently in newer cases as compared to the original ones in Wuhan, claims a report. Doctors believe that the pathogen is changing in ways not known to us before. This will only make getting rid of it more difficult.

Reportedly, patients are carrying the virus for a longer period of time in the northern provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang. They are also taking longer to test negative, as reported in Fortune.

Other than that, they are also reportedly taking around one to two weeks to develop symptoms after getting infected and it is making matters tricky for healthcare authorities to detect the infections before they start to spread.

AFP

Dr Qiu Haibo, one of China's top critical care doctors said, ¡°The longer period during which infected patients show no symptoms has created clusters of family infections."

Dr Qiu was earlier sent to Wuhan to help out in the original coronavirus outbreak. In the past two weeks, around 46 cases have been recorded in Shulan, Jilin city and Shengyang. This has brought in another lockdown over a region of 100 million people.

Scientists are still struggling to understand if the virus is actually changing and that Chinese doctors could be seeing the difference due to the fact that they have managed to catch the infection earlier than when it first came into existence. Earlier, the healthcare system was so overwhelmed that only the most critical cases were being treated.

AFP

China seemingly has one of the most efficient virus detection and testing processes in the world and the country is still finding it difficult to contain the new spread of infections. This brings in a sense of uncertainty over how the manifestation of the virus will affect governments' efforts to contain it and revive their declining economies.

Around the globe, researchers are trying to figure out if the virus is mutating to become more contagious but early research on the same suggested that this possibility received criticism for being blown out of proportion.

Factly

¡°In theory, some changes in the genetic structure can lead to changes in the virus structure or how the virus behaves. However, many mutations lead to no discernible changes at all", said Keiji Fukuda, director and clinical professor at the University of Hong Kong¡¯s School of Public Health.

He added that China does not have a direct correlation with a mutation and "very clear evidence" is required before we come to the conclusion that the virus is mutating.

AFP

With the northeast provinces returning their lockdown measures, people are being advised to watch out for the worst. Doctors in the country are warning the citizens to be cautious and not let their guard down as it is possible that the lockdown can last for a long time.