Two Covid-19 variants detected in Sarawak, not extra-infectious, says DG

 

Two variants of Covid-19 have been detected in Sarawak, said Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said at present, these strains of the virus did not show any evidence of being highly infectious.

The presence of the variants was detected by Universiti Malaya Sarawak after which the Institute of Medical Research looked further into.

According to Noor Hisham the first variant, B.1.470 (previously known as B.1.160.3), had mostly been found in Indonesia since April last year.

The second variant, he said, was B.1.160 which was usually found in Europe. This variant has the mutation spikes known as D614G and S477N.

Noor Hisham said the second variant was not the dominant variant currently spreading in the UK, which is the B1.1.7 variant.

"For now there is no evidence showing that the B.1.160 and B.1.470 variants from Sarawak have a higher infectivity rate," he said.

He added that the strains have not been detected in Peninsular Malaysia yet.

He said the source of the variants in Sarawak was unclear, but it was likely it came from Indonesia. - Mkini