THE A701V mutation, which was first detected in the Benteng Lahad Datu prison cluster, had subsequently spread to a vast majority of Covid-19 clusters in the peninsula, said Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

“Apart from the most prominent spike mutation, D614G, we are now seeing another form of variant, A701V, which was first detected in the Benteng Lahad Datu (Benteng LD) cluster, and subsequently spread to almost all clusters, including in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah (post-Benteng LD clusters),” the Health Director-General said in a Facebook post today.

He said the genome sequence was also spotted in the Teratai cluster, which went on to infect more than 6,000 people.

The cluster linked to a glove company is also the largest cluster of infection reported so far in the country.

In addition, the Damanlela Construction Site, Perigi, Selasih, Saguking, Tenaga, Kasih, Bah Ketil, Bukit and Kaya clusters also displayed the mutation.

“The virus strain was first found among 22 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from the Benteng LD clusters, and subsequently passed on to the vast majority of third wave clusters in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah,” he added.

While the role of the mutation has yet to be determined, Noor Hisham said it could be a dominant strain that has strong transmissibility.

The strain was detected in South Africa, Australia, Netherlands and England at about the same time it was reported in Malaysia.

This mutation has a prevalence of about 0.18%, he added.

“To date, the Institute for Medical Research (IMR), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Health Ministry have conducted analysis on more than 120 SARS-CoV-2 full genome sequences from clinical samples encompassing the first wave till the recent third wave of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia,” he said.

The analysis focused on timely monitoring of all gene mutations, particularly in the spike protein, which plays a key role in the receptor recognition and cell membrane fusion process,” he added.

Malaysia had previously reported an infectious strain known as D614G, which was spotted in the Sivagangga and Tawar clusters in Kedah

Meanwhile, he said the new infectious variant known as SARS-CoV-2 VUI-202012/01 mutation reported in the UK has not been reported in Malaysia.

 “At this point, we are informed about the emergence of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 in the United Kingdom, the SARS-CoV-2 VUI-202012/01 (Variant Under Investigation, year 2020, month 12, variant 01). They have observed 70% increase of transmissibility rate and 3-fold increase in cases in the 14-days notification period,” he said.

Currently the SARS-CoV-2 VUI 202012-01 is not found in Malaysia. IMR will continuously perform whole genome sequencing to monitor the presence of this variant as well as other variants,” he added.

He added that the ministry will continue to be vigilant and has put in various measures to prevent a spill-over of the new variant into Malaysia.

Countries around the world have begun banning flights and travellers from Britain as the spread of the infectious new coronavirus strain was now “out of control”.

Scientists first discovered the new variant – which they believe is 70% more transmissible – in a patient in September. – December 25, 2020.