KINIGUIDE | Virus mutations happen naturally and randomly all the time. Most mutations do nothing while some will cause harm to the host organism.

A rare few, however, may confer a decisive advantage to a particular virus strain, quickly making it become the dominant variant.

For the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19, the latter appears to be the case for a mutation that is known by its cryptic name D614G.

Early this morning, Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has announced that the mutation has been detected in virus samples collected from some patients in the Sivagangga and Bukit Tiram clusters.

He urged people to be more alert in preventing the spread of Covid-19, as the mutation makes the highly contagious disease even more infectious.

In this instalment of KiniGuide, we decode what is known about the mutation thus far...