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More foreign Covid-19 variants unearthed in Malaysia

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia has detected two Covid-19 Variant of Concern (VOC) and two Variant of Interest (VOI) to date.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the VOC identified were the United Kingdom variant or the B.1.1.7, and the South African variant, also known as the B.1351.

The VOI found, he said, were the Nigeria (B.1525) variant and the B.1.617.1 variant from India.

"We have detected eight cases of the UK variant, three of which were local cases from Sandakan identified through close contact screening (two) and one from the Lorong Megah Jaya cluster.

"The remaining five were imported cases from the UK (one), United Arab Emirates (two), and Poland (two).

"We are however unsure of how it infected local (people) which is why we are worried. The variant has been detected in the community," he told reporters here today.

Dr Noor Hisham said 48 local cases involving the South African variant were detected from the Jalan Lima Cluster (four cases), Kebun Baru cluster (nine), Teknologi Emas cluster (three), Jalan Canning Estate cluster (10), Kampung Bunut Sarang Burung cluster (10), close contact screening (11) and one from a patient under investigation.

On the Nigerian VOI, he said two imported cases involving foreigners from the UAE were detected.

As for the India VOI, Malaysia has so far only found one imported case which involves a foreigner from India, he added.

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