COVID-19 drove itself to extinction in Japan

Coronavirus has literally disappeared in Japan.  The fifth wave of the pandemic, during which the incredibly infectious delta strain spread en masse across the country, turned out to be decisive.  By mutating, the virus simply destroyed itself, but it is too early to talk about the victory over the pandemic.

At the end of this summer, when the country of the rising sun was passing another peak in incidence, the statistics of new cases showed 26 thousand infected daily.

At the moment, this figure is less than 200 people per day, and the number of deaths tends to zero.

High vaccination rates and discipline are commonly cited as reasons for this situation.  However, scientists at the National Institute of Genetics and Niigata University see another one.  It lies in the fact that the more infectious compared to the alpha strain, the delta strain was less capable of mutations.  The largest number of changes occurred in the A394V area of the nsp14 non-structural protein, which in turn is responsible for error correction.  Researchers believe that a situation when the virus, in an attempt to correct errors, simply lost its ability to reproduce, has occurred, reports RIA Novosti.

Japan also has other features that made it possible to defeat the coronavirus.

 In addition to the high level of immunization and compliance with the introduced protective measures, the country has a very low level of obesity - only 3.6% of the total population.

 This is the lowest rate in the entire world.

 Despite the positive dynamics with the spread of the virus, scientists urge not to relax and continue vaccination.  The fact that the delta strain has practically outlived itself in one country does not mean that another mutation of the coronavirus cannot enter this territory.