Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 17: Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) today warned of a possible mutation of the novel coronavirus in Kashmir “COVID-19 is now behaving aggressively which gives us to understand that the virus has mutated,” DAK President Dr Nisar ul Hassan said.
“Initially when the outbreak arrived at Kashmir valley, Covid-19 behaved very mildly and most patients who tested positive were asymptomatic,” he said.
But, he said, over the past few weeks the situation has taken a serious turn with a large number of seriously-ill patients getting admitted in hospitals.
Dr Nisar said the sudden rise in cases and deaths could be because of a new strain of Covid-19 that might have undergone mutation.
“COVID-19 like other viruses tend to mutate,” he said adding that “mutation is a change in the virus that occurs when the virus replicates inside cells and mistakes are made in copying its genetic code.”
He said that scientists around the globe have discovered several mutations of the virus.
“The new dominant strain seems to infect humans more easily than the version of the virus that was present when the pandemic originated in China,” he added.
Dr Nisar said it is vitally important to identify the possible mutated strain and to determine whether it has an impact on the spread of the virus and the development of the disease.
He said a mutated version of the virus has implications.
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