Young BE, Fong SW, Chan YH, et al. - Detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants with a 382-nucleotide deletion (∆382) in the open reading frame 8 (ORF8) region of the genome in Singapore and other countries led researchers to determine the effect of this deletion on the clinical features of infection. They collected clinical, laboratory, and radiological data from patients who had been screened for the ∆382 variant and recruited to the PROTECT study—a prospective observational cohort study conducted at seven public hospitals in Singapore—using patients' electronic medical records and serial blood and respiratory samples taken during hospitalisation and after discharge. Among 278 patients with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection who were screened for the ∆382 deletion, 131 were enrolled onto the study, comprising of 92 (70%) infected with the wild-type virus, ten (8%) with a mix of wild-type and ∆382-variant viruses, and 29 (22%) with only the ∆382 variant. Observations suggested association of the ∆382 variant of SARS-CoV-2 with a milder infection. The noted clinical effects of deletions in ORF8 may have implications for the development of therapies and vaccines.