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In a statement, the Health DG said the two students arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on 2 October, following which they underwent RT-PCR tests and were initially found negative before being confirmed positive after a second test was conducted on 7 October during the quarantine period.
“This sample has undergone full genome sequencing at the Institute of Medical Molecular Biology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UMBI-UKM) and the result was released on 30 October,” he added.
According to Noor Hisham, the AY.4 variant is among 75 types of lineages originating from the Delta variant and among the sublineages of AY.4 is the AY.4.2 variant which is also known as Delta Plus.
“The AY.4.2 variant has two additional mutations to the spike proteins, Y145H and A222V, and as of the end of October, the AY.4.2 variant represents 10% of the total full genome sequencing conducted in the UK,” he said, adding that the UK Health Security Agency has classified AY.4.2 as Variant Under Investigation (VUI).
“The vaccines used now are still effective on these variants and measures such as quarantine, testing, and others carried out can help reduce the risk of this variant transmission in Malaysia especially at international entry points,” he said, assuring that the Ministry of Health will continue to closely monitor the situation.
Although, Noor Hisham did not specify if the two students are partially or full vaccinated.