"Coronavirus may be mutating to adapt to human" expert suggests.
Two cases of confirmed cononavirus patients may be a clue to evolving of the virus, an expert suggested.
Dr. Bae Jong-myon, director of the Jeju Center for Infection Diseases and Prevention(JeCI), told reporters a hypothesis at the joint press conference of Jeju Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters held at the Jeju Special Self-governing Provincial Office on March 12th, according to Jeju Economy.
This was given to a question that the 2 workers at the Guro Call Center were confrimed positive to tests but, still, showed no symptoms. Even the family of the 2nd woker's got tested negative.
Dr. Bae explains "It seems that mutated viruses are spreading among people, that don't infect others but, instead, develop no symptoms.". He added "The viral detection with no symptoms may suggest that coronavirus is evolving to adapt to human body."
◆ The Coronavirus Seems Adapting to Human While Mutating
This means that the 2 patients may have no infection on Jeju Island, according to him. "We need more tests to prove it, but family members who are in close contacts with the 2nd infected worker were tested negative, and she got positive on March 10th after having negative on March 9th. This may lead to a conclusion that it is highly improbable that she spreaded the virus while in Jeju." the director added. It is because she was possibly negative to the virus while she was traveling in Jeju, considering she got tested postive only after the 10th.
He gave the cause of the result to the viral mutation. He said, "We are having more contamination with little visual symptoms. And, Wuhan(the epicenter in China) had many cases with the severe fever and coughing in the beginning, but very fewer cases with coughing now.". From this, he concluded "The (corona) virus came to Korea via lots of people, thus, it adaps to men. Like this, it has changed to see its genetic mutation."
However, no symptom doesn't necessarily assure that you can be healed from the disease, he pointed out. Plus, it takes at least 2 days to have symptoms after the incubation period. So, there can be many interpretations about the possibility of infection.
The director put an emphasis, as well, that it is time to change the quarantine strategies as 'no symptom' or 'little symptom' isn't a proof of the end of the coronavirus. It rather means that it is highly possible to get more contagious because it is hardly seen. He opined here "We should test every one from a city with mass infection, e.g. Daegu, within 14 days even when there is no symptom."
This means that "We must ditch 'Get test when you have symptoms.', and introduce 'Go to a triage room if you are coming from a mass-infected city.'"