For a few months, we do not hear about covid-19 news except the report of covid-19 cases. Surprisingly, at the press conference this Wednesday (23/12), The Malaysian Ministry of Health announced that samples taken in Sabah suspected that it showed a new strain of Covid-19.
The Ministry's Director-General, Tan-Sri Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah, said there was still no evidence of contamination in the strain known as the mutation 'A701B.'
He also added that this suspected sample has similarities with the strains found in southern Africa, Australia, and the Netherlands.
He said that the Covid-19 virus is always mutating, and they will always monitor and research the implications of the different strains on the population.
He added that the mutations were found in 60 samples taken in the Benteng Lahad Datu Sabah cluster from Covid-19 patients.
The Health Ministry and covid-19 research team haven't decided whether this breed has a higher level of infectivity and is more aggressive than usual.
So far, Malaysia had detected mutations 10 times more infectious than normal strains.
Around August, Kedah was infected with the D614G mutation from Covid-19, and infections increased rapidly in the state.
He said the ministry was tracking the Covid-19 mutation found in the UK, which is highly contagious.
However, due to discovering the UK's mutation, the government has no plans to comply with the quarantine decision from 10 days to 14 days.
They don't see a difference between 10 and 14 days of isolation from the quarantine decision's data and evidence.
'In the first week, most of the time, a person experiences symptoms.
Dr. Noor Hisham also explain based on their experience, if the quarantine period is only seven days, then maybe the risk is higher, but 10 days or 14 days is not giving a significant difference, based on our experience," said
Tourists from overseas arriving in the country continue to be screened under Covid-19 protocol. People who tested negative orders to do self-quarantine and tested positive will get the treatment in a referral hospital.
Source: straitstimes.com
