Friday, 30 Apr 2021 07:02 PM MYT
IHCM director Prof Dr David Perera said the P.3 variant was found in four samples received from Kuching and four samples from Samarahan. Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri
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KUCHING, April 30 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.
A report prepared by IHCM director Prof David Perera
(pic) indicated that the P3 variant was detected in eight out of 484 samples analysed in its genomic surveillance study. This P3 variant is characterised by two key mutations, the E484K mutation shared with the B.1.351 variant (South African variant) and the N501Y mutation shared with the B.1.1.7 variant (UK variant). These mutations have been associated with immune escape from both vaccine-induced and natural infection protection, and greater transmissibility, Prof Perera said in a statement on Friday (April 30).
Designated a variant of interest, the P3 variant was first reported in the Philippines in March and was recently identified in imported cases in Britain.
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.
Covid-19: Philippine variant detected in Sarawak
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The Philippine variant, or the P.3 variant, of the Covid-19 virus has been detected in Sarawak, according to the Sarawak Covid-19 Advisory Group (Scovag).
The group 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 David Perera said.
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