Type of Covid virus that circulates in the Dominican Republic has a high transmissibility

The first sequences of the genome of the virus causing the Covid-19 disease circulating in the Dominican Republic were registered by Dominican researchers, determining that it has the D614G mutation in the spike protein of the virus that has been related to high transmissibility.

The finding was made by Dominican researchers in collaboration with the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), determining that the SARS-CoV-2 circulating in the country has the D614G mutation in the spike protein of the virus, which has been related to high transmissibility and with European sequences, which according to the experts, could explain why in the first months it behaved explosively.

The participating researchers were those from the Institute of Tropical Medicine & Global Health of the Ibero-American University (UNIBE), the Clinical Laboratory Reference, and the ICGEB in Italy, who registered the first SARS-CoV-2 sequences on the platform of the Global Initiative to share Influenza Data (GISAID), who also enter the sequences for SARS-CoV-2.

The information was released yesterday by Unibe and explains that GISAID allows scientists around the world to share genomic information on the diversity of multiple pathogens, including the one that causes Covid-19.