KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 11): The B117 Covid-19 strain, known as the UK strain, has made its way to Malaysian shores, according to Ministry of Health (MoH) director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
In a Facebook post, the MoH D-G said an individual who travelled to the UK in December was found infected with the new strain of the virus today.
"Since October 2020, the MoH has monitored travellers from all countries that have reported the mutational variant UK B117, including the UK, the Netherlands, Singapore, Turkey, the Philippines and India.
"As many as 968 samples have been tested since October through genome sequencing to track this UK B117 strain to 24 samples. As of Jan 11, 2021, the strain has not spread within the country," he said.
He added that MoH will continue to monitor the situation and provide information about the strain on a timely basis. He noted while the strain does not cause symptoms that are worse than the conventional Covid-19 virus, it can be transmitted easily and quickly.
Malaysia today reported 2,232 newly confirmed Covid-19-infected individuals, who brought the nation's total number of Covid-19 cases to 138,224 so far. Four additional Covid-19-related deaths were reported today.
Read also: