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PUTRAJAYA • The Malaysian Ministry of Health has identified a new strain of Covid-19 in the country from samples taken in the state of Sabah.
The director general of the ministry, Tan Sri Noor Hisham Abdullah, said it is still unknown whether the strain, dubbed the “A701B” mutation, is more infectious than usual.
Meanwhile, Israel has detected four cases of the highly infectious new variant of the coronavirus that has emerged in Britain, the Israeli Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
Dr Noor Hisham, speaking about the strain found in Sabah, said on Wednesday: “It is similar to a strain found in South Africa, Australia and the Netherlands.
“The Covid-19 virus always mutates, and we are always monitoring and investigating the involvement of different strains in the population.”
He added: “We detected this mutation in 60 samples taken from Covid-19 patients in the Benteng Lahad Datu group in Sabah. We have not yet determined whether this strain has a high level of infectivity and is more aggressive than usual.”
Malaysia had previously discovered a mutation that was said to have 10 times more infectivity than normal strains, he said.
He was referring to the Covid-19 D614G mutation that affected Kedah around August, and the northern state had seen a rapid rise in infections.
On the Covid-19 mutation found in Britain, which is highly infectious, Dr. Noor Hisham said the ministry is monitoring the situation.
The Malaysian government, however, has no intention of reversing the mandatory quarantine period, due to the discovery of the mutation in Britain.
“If we look at the data from our quarantine resolution, there is not much difference between 10 days and 14 days of isolation,” said Dr. Noor Hisham.
“Most of the time, an individual will develop symptoms within the first week.
“If the quarantine period is only seven days, then maybe there is a high risk, but 10 or 14 days is not much different, based on our experience,” he added.
Travelers arriving in Malaysia from abroad must undergo Covid-19 testing and serve a quarantine order if they test negative.
Those who test positive will be sent to the hospital for isolation and treatment.
In Israel, three of the four cases detected were repatriated from England. They are isolated in a hotel designated as a Covid-19 quarantine facility, the Israeli Health Ministry said.
The fourth case is under investigation, he added.
The new variant of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus is spreading rapidly in Britain and causing high levels of concern among its European neighbors, some of whom have cut transport connections.
Israel closed its borders to foreigners in March, with a few exceptions, including students and journalists.
Under new restrictions adopted this week, he rejected those exceptions for non-citizen arrivals from Britain, South Africa and Denmark, citing the risk of the new strain of coronavirus.
From Wednesday night to January 1, all Israelis returning from abroad must isolate themselves in the hotel’s quarantine facilities, according to a directive posted on the Health Ministry website.
Israel launched a vaccination campaign against the coronavirus last Saturday and has vaccinated 70,000 of its population of nine million, government data shows.
THE STAR / ASIA NEWS NETWORK, REUTERS
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