The nasi kandar shop owner who flouted his home quarantine has single-handedly infected more than 30 people and caused four sub-districts being put under targetted enhanced movement control order (EMCO).

And if that's not damaging enough, authorities have discovered that the COVID-19 strain resulting from the Sivagangga cluster is more infectious than ever.

Ten times more likely to infect people

The New Straits Times reported that the highly-infectious D614G-type mutation of COVID-19 has been detected in Malaysia.

According to the Institute of Medical Research (IMR), the mutation was detected in the culture tests of samples taken from three cases linked to the Sivagangga cluster.

The mutation was also detected in one case from the Ulu Tiram Cluster.

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a Facebook post that the D614G mutation was first detected in Malaysia in July.

And here's the big problem: studies would likely reveal that the virus will not be killed by any existing vaccine.

"It was found to be 10 times likely to infect other individuals and easier to spread by super spreader individuals," Dr Noor Hisham was quoted as saying.

However, Dr Noor Hisham revealed that the results from the tests conducted by the IMR was preliminary, and that there are several follow-up tests being conducted on other cases.

The COVID-19 situation in the country is still under control, Dr Noor Hisham said, but he has advised Malaysians to continue to be vigilant and practise physical distancing and good hygiene.