KUALA LUMPUR – The Health Ministry has detected another 30 Covid-19 variants of concern (VOC) in Malaysia, involving 27 cases of the South African variant (B.1.351) and three cases of the United Kingdom (UK) variant (B.117).
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said the cases were detected through 59 whole genome sequencing conducted between April 24 and yesterday by the Medical Research Institute.
“This is the first report of the South African VOC in Perak and Kelantan, and involves significant clusters, with 10 cases in each state.
“We are still detecting the variant in Selangor, with seven cases.
“For the UK variant, two cases were detected in Selangor and one in Sandakan, Sabah (first report of VOC in Sabah), involving a non-Malaysian.
“This is also the first report of the variant among individuals without a history of travel to overseas, hence, suggesting local transmission.”
Dr Adham said the first case of a variant of interest involving the Indian variant (B.1.617) was also detected from an Indian national screened at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
To date, he said, Malaysia has recorded 48 cases of the South African variant, eight cases of the UK variant, one Indian variant and two Nigerian variant (B.1.525), as well as one case of C lineage (C.36) from a person with a history of travel to Egypt.
“There is a gradual increase in the number of VOCs, especially the South African variant, among the samples used for full genome sequencing, suggesting potential replacement of the VOC (B.1.351) of the local lineage (B.1.524).”
He advised the public to continue cooperating to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia. – Bernama, May 2, 2021
