SEVEN cases of the South African variant of the coronavirus (B.1.351) have been detected in Sarawak, according to the head of the Institute of Health & Community Medicine (IHCM) of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), Dr David Perera.

In a statement, Perera said the earliest case IHCM sequenced was tested positive by RT-PCR (real-time reverse transcriptase) on April 26 while the most recent case was on May 6.

He said researchers at the institute have also detected additional cases of the P3 variant – first detected in Kuching and Samarahan districts – in Samarahan and Sibu districts.

The P3 variant, or B.1.1.28.3, was first reported in the Philippines in March this year and was recently identified in import cases to the United Kingdom.

Perera said this P3 variant is characterised by a double mutation; “the E484K mutation shared with the B.1.351 South African variant and the N501Y mutation shared with the B.1.1.7 UK variant”.

“These mutations have been associated with immune escape from both vaccine-induced and natural infection protection, and greater transmissibility.”

Additionally, he said, IHCM has detected a B.1.530 variant that appears to be dominant in Miri but also seen in Kuching” while the B.1.466.2 ‘Pasai’ variant continues to circulate throughout the state.

Perera warned that with these new findings of SARS-COV-2 variants of concern and interest circulating in Sarawak, he strongly emphasised the need for the public to continue adhering to the standard operating procedure (SOP) and guidelines, particularly mask-wearing, hand hygiene and physical distancing and the need to achieve herd-immunity through the vaccination programme.

To date, Perera said, the IHCM laboratory has completed the genomic sequencing of over 600 samples and the genomic sequence data is shared in the GISAID global SARS-COV-2 sequence database.

Their variant surveillance study has identified the B.1.470 and B.1.524 lineages as the circulating variants in the third wave (September – November 2020) in the state and lineages B.1.470, B.1.524 and B.1.466.2 as the circulating variants in the fourth wave (December 2020 onwards).

The B.1.466.2 variant is related to the ‘Pasai’ cluster and this variant, Perera said, shares a mutation with the UK B.1.1.7 variant “at position 681 of the SARS-COV-2 spike protein that is associated with increased transmissibility”. – May 20, 2021.