PUTRAJAYA (Bernama): The Health Ministry (MOH) has called for stricter border control, including implementing risk assessments on individuals returning from abroad, to prevent the Lambda variant from spreading into the country.

       Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said so far, MOH has not detected cases involving the Lambda variant in the country, adding that the ministry would further enhance its capability by running the full genomic sequence to detect the emergence of any Variants of Concern (VOCs).

       He said many more mutations would occur, adding that mutations would emerge when there were infections that would cause the virus to enter and multiply in the lungs.

       "The mutations that have been identified so far are Lambda, Epsilon and so on. Our concern is that these mutations are resistant to the vaccines that we are using. So far, Alhamdulillah, the vaccines that we are using are still effective against the Delta variant," he said during a press conference on the Covid-19 development on Friday (Aug 13).

       Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba, Health deputy director-general (Public Health) Datuk Dr Chong Chee Keong, MOH secretary-general Datuk Mohd Shafiq Abdullah and Selangor Health Department director Datuk Dr Sha'ari Ngadiman were also present at the press conference. - Bernama