Coronavirus cases with a highly infectious mutation are on the rise, accounting for over half of all recent positive tests nationwide, a health ministry advisory body said Tuesday, adding that the variants are expected to replace the ancestral virus across the nation.
Random sampling of positive tests from April 12-18 showed more than 50% were of the virus bearing the highly infectious N501Y mutation, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. The percentage varied by region, with the mutation found in 80-90% of samples in Osaka, Hyogo, Kyoto and Nara prefectures, followed by about 60% in Aichi Prefecture and about 40% in Tokyo.
As of Monday, 9,332 people in Japan have been detected as infected with the novel coronavirus bearing the N501Y mutation since it was first found in Japan at airport quarantine last December. The figure increased by 80% from the previous week.
Analysis by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases showed that the N501Y mutation gives the virus a stronger infectivity than the ancestral virus, but that the degree of infectivity differs by area. Estimates as of Monday show that it is 29% more infectious in Osaka Prefecture, 53% more infectious in Tokyo and 68% more infectious in Saitama Prefecture.
As for the worrying impact on children, the institute said that "there is no clear trend of infection spreading among those under 15."
The ministry's advisory body pointed out that "the number of severely ill people has increased rapidly, leading the death toll to turn upward" along with a nationwide increase in the number of newly infected people. The body said the number of seriously ill people is likely to further increase if the infection further spreads to the elderly.
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