Published on: Friday, April 30, 2021
By: Bernama
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KUCHING: The Philippine variant or the P.3 variant of the Covid-19 virus have been detected in Sarawak, according to Sarawak Covid-19 Advisory Group (SCOVAG).
SCOVAG in a statement today said the variant was detected by the Institute of Health and Community Medicine (IHCM) of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) in its genome sequencing analysis last week.
IHCM director Prof Dr David Perera said the P.3 variant was found in four samples received from Kuching and four samples from Samarahan.“These mutations have been associated with immune-escape from both vaccine-induced and natural infection protection, and greater transmissibility,” he said.
30 Apr 2021 / 19:07 H. Pix for representational purpose only.
KUCHING: The Philippine variant or the P.3 variant of the Covid-19 virus have been detected in Sarawak, according to Sarawak Covid-19 Advisory Group (SCOVAG).
SCOVAG in a statement today said the variant was detected by the Institute of Health and Community Medicine (IHCM) of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) in its genome sequencing analysis last week.
IHCM director Prof Dr David Perera said the P.3 variant was found in four samples received from Kuching and four samples from Samarahan.“These mutations have been associated with immune-escape from both vaccine-induced and natural infection protection, and greater transmissibility,” he said.