PETALING JAYA: The government has issued a travel ban to seven African countries over fears of a new Covid-19 variant that has been detected in the continent, health minister Khairy Jamaluddin said.
He said the variant has yet to be detected in Malaysia.
The ban on travel to South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe comes into force tomorrow.
Citizens and those with work permits in these countries will be allowed to return but must undergo 14 days of quarantine at designated centres regardless of their vaccination status.
Khairy said those with plans to visit any of the seven countries will be barred from continuing their travels, and those who have been in these countries will also be temporarily blocked from travelling.
“The health ministry views the emergence of this new variant seriously and we will improve genomic surveillance, including on arriving individuals from countries that have reported cases of this new variant,” he said at a press conference.
“Continuous genomic surveillance is conducted by a consortium which consists of the MoH, the Institute for Medical Research (IMR), the science, technology and innovation ministry and the higher education ministry.”
The new variant – B.1.1.529 – has also been detected in Hong Kong and Israel in addition to parts of southern Africa, and some experts fear it is more infectious and may be more resistant to immunity.
Khairy said the new variant has 32 mutations to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, roughly twice as many as the Delta variant that had caused surges in cases in parts of the world.
According to a report by The Guardian of the UK, the variant was first detected in the South African province of Gauteng and may already be present in other parts of the country.
It quoted scientists as saying they believe that 90% of the new cases in Gauteng could be of the B.1.1.529 variant.
It is described as the “worst variant” as it has 32 mutations – twice the number associated with the Delta variant – which allow the virus to infect cells, spread faster and evade the efficacy of vaccines, posing a greater threat.
The Delta variant was first detected in India in late 2020, causing an increase in case rates and deaths.
Other coronavirus variants include Alpha, Beta and Gamma originating from the UK, South Africa and Brazil, respectively.
_(1).png)
.jpg){kind=tracking}
