Young BE, Fong SW, Chan YH, et al. - In Singapore and other countries, 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 have been identified. Researchers here examined how this deletion affected the clinical features of infection. They retrospectively recognized cases who had been tested for the ∆382 variant and recruited to the PROTECT study—a prospective observational cohort study performed at seven public hospitals in Singapore. From Jan 22, to March 21, 2020, screening for the ∆382 deletion was done in 278 patients with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection; of these, 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 suggest a possible correlation of the ∆382 variant of SARS-CoV-2 with a milder infection. Deletions in ORF8 were observed to have clinical effects, which could have implications for the development of treatments and vaccines.