Health Ministry wants stricter border control to curb Lambda variant spread

 

The Health Ministry has called for stricter border control, including implementing risk assessments on individuals returning from abroad to prevent the Lambda variant from spreading into the country.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said so far the ministry has not detected cases involving the Lambda variant in the country, adding that the ministry would further enhance its capability by running the full genomic sequence to detect the emergence of any variants of concern (VOCs).

He said many more mutations will occur, adding that mutations emerge when there are infections causing the virus to enter and multiply in the lungs.

"The mutations that have been identified so far are Lambda, Epsilon and so on. Our concern is that these mutations are resistant to the vaccines that we are using. So far, Alhamdulillah, the vaccines that we are using are still effective against the Delta variant," he said during a press conference on the Covid-19 development today.

Health Minister Dr Adham Baba, Health deputy director-general (Public Health) Dr Chong Chee Keong, Health secretary-general Mohd Shafiq Abdullah and Selangor State Health Department director Dr Sha'ari Ngadiman were also present at the press conference.

- Bernama