Possibility of three COVID-19 strains in Malaysia - Health DG

The Ministry of Health (MoH) has not ruled out the possibility that there could be three COVID-19 strains in the country, said Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

However, he pointed out that it is too early to confirm this as the strains must first be examined by the health authorities including the Institute for Medical Research (IMR).

He said the virus is new and there are no reports or data available to help the authorities in their research.

“This is a new virus so, basically, we do not have the data and reports of the virus that we can refer to, unlike other viruses, for which we already have the identification and report.

“So, what we are doing at IMR is exploring the serology of the virus, its isolation, while also looking at its genomics,” he explained at the COVID-19 daily press briefing at MOH, here, today.

Dr Noor Hisham also said that the COVID-19 positive cases found in Malaysia could be Strain C.

“Remember, in our first wave, basically 16 of our patients came from China, so we know that probably this group was from the Wuhan group.

“Whether we are seeing a different strain of the virus, it depends ... as they (reports) say that now in China probably it is Strain B and they say that in Asia it is Strain C and in the United States and Europe it is Strain A, for example.

“But, we do not know unless we culture our own virus with complete genome sequences … if we can do that and tag and identify the nature of our virus, whether its Type A, B or C.

“Maybe we have three strains in this country but we do not know until we do the isolation of the virus and tag the virus, only then can we compare,” he explained.

There have been reports that Type A is most likely the strain at the root of the outbreak, Type B is derived from Type A, separated by two mutations, and Type C is then a ‘daughter’ of Type B.

-- BERNAMA