Malignant mutations likely from strain B - Dr Noor Hisham

The Ministry of Health (MOH) today announced that a mutation strain has been detected that acted more aggressively and infected at least 120 other patients with a possible strain B.

Director-General of Health, Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said it was detected after the cultural process was carried out on the virus.

However, he said the matter was still in its early stages and further research was needed to identify the mutation strain of the virus.

"We found that the virus was from strain B. In strain B, it has a mutation, so we have to see strain B mutate with the virus and we should compare that, it is still in the early stages of our research.

"So, we have recently advised the IMR (Medical Research Institute) to conduct further isolation of the virus and culture so that we can identify the virus from the first wave, the second wave or from positive patients coming from other countries, for example from Italy, Iran, the United States (US), and the United Kingdom (UK).

"So, once we get the list of the virus and we do the research, then we can get more information about the virus," he said at a press conference here today.

As mentioned earlier, Dr Noor Hisham said strain B originated in Wuhan, China while C came from Singapore and Europe respectively.

He added that information on the virus was still limited as the COVID-19 pandemic was a new virus.

“So, by conducting research which is handling and we get the latest information on mutations and so on, this may help us.

“What is important is that the information we have will be passed on to the World Health Organization (WHO) and they will see it.

“So, for us to document this novel coronavirus, in the form of mutation; where the codon is and so on, and (let's say) we can identify the pattern and identity of the virus,” he added.

In this regard, Dr Noor Hisham said it was important for Malaysia to work closely with other countries to conduct research on the matter.

Yesterday, Dr Noor Hisham said a study conducted by MOH had found that one of the 30 strains of the virus mutation could act more viciously and infect 120 other patients.

He said it involved the 26th case, where the mutation was detected at codon 15.