SOUTH AFRICAN COVID-19 VARIANT DETECTED IN COUNTRY
Infections could have originated from a Covid-19 patient who is an employee of a firm at KLIA
THE Health Ministry has detected nine cases of the SARS-CoV-2 (Covid19) variant in Malaysia, the B.1.351, which was first discovered in South Africa late last year.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah yesterday said the Institute for Medical Research (IMR) had identified and confirmed the existence of this variant among local Covid19 cases.
He said genome sequence analysis suggested that the infections could have originated from a Covid-19 patient who was an employee of a company at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Sepang, who then transmitted the virus to residents in Kuala Langat.
“This genomic surveillance strategy involves samples confirmed positive from January to March 31 obtained from local clusters in Selangor, Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Melaka, Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.
“The samples were also from positive cases with a travel history to other countries as well as from deaths due to Covid-19.
“Up to March 31, nine Covid-19 cases have been identified infected with the B.1.351 variant through local infection.
“Phylogenetic analysis as well as geographical correlations indicate the probability of these cases being from the same source of infection.”
The variant was first reported in the United Kingdom and South Africa in December.
Since early this year, it has also been reported in the United States, Canada, Germany, Australia and South Korea.
Scientists had reported that this variant appeared to spread easier than the “wild type” original strains, and research indicated it could evade some of the protection generated by therapeutics and vaccines.
Dr Noor Hisham said in Malaysia, the variant was first identified among four local cases last month.
Preliminary investigation, he said, found that all four cases were linked to a geographical location and closely related to the Jalan Lima cluster as shown in a phylogenetic analysis.
“Two cases are believed to be from the Jalan Lima cluster, who are employees at one of the companies based at KLIA.
“However, it is difficult to determine and confirm the mode of transmission or infection of variant B.1.351 to the workers involved.
“One case was from the Kebun Baru cluster and another was a family member of a Covid-19 patient living in the same house.”
He said following the initial discovery of the B.1.351 variant, more genome sequence tests were conducted using Covid-19 positive samples from geographical locations, including Kuala Langat and Sepang districts.
The results of the tests unearthed five more cases that had been infected with the variant, he said.
He said the Jalan Lima cluster ended on March 29 where it had 57 cases and 447 people had been screened, while the Kebun Baru cluster was still active and was expected to end on April 25, if there were no more cases.
Up to March 31, the cluster had involved 1,111 cases (111 were still active and isolated for treatment or isolation) and 1,565 people had been screened, he said.
He said the Kuala Langat District Health Office and the Sepang District Health Office as well as IMR would continue to perform genome sequencing from clinical samples to monitor the presence of this variant as well as other variants.
From early January to the end of last month, 117 full genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 were obtained for Covid-19 mutations, he added. He said the ministry, via IMR and the National Institutes of Health, had analysed more than 261 full genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 virus from clinical samples.
Meanwhile, 1,178 new cases were recorded up to noon yesterday, raising the total number of infections to 346,678, with 14,399 active cases.
He said 1,158 of the new cases were local infections (861 Malaysians and 297 foreigners), and 20 others were imported (nine Malaysians and 11 foreigners).
Sarawak recorded the highest number of new cases at 238, followed by Selangor (237), Penang (190) and Johor (165), he said.
“There are 163 cases being treated at intensive care units, with 81 on ventilator support,” he shared on his Facebook page.
He said there were 1,377 recoveries, raising the total number of patients who had recovered to 331,001, or 95.5 per cent.
Six deaths were reported, bringing the death toll to 1,278 (0.37 per cent), he added.
He said six more clusters had been identified, five of which were linked to workplaces and one a community cluster.
This, he said, brought the total number of clusters to 1,378.