TY - JOUR
T1 - Changing predominant SARS-CoV-2 lineages drives successive COVID-19 waves in Malaysia, February 2020 to March 2021
AU - Sam, I. Ching
AU - Chong, Yoong Min
AU - Abdullah, Azwani
AU - Fu, Jolene Yin Ling
AU - Hasan, M. Shahnaz
AU - Jamaluddin, Fadhil Hadi
AU - Kamarulzaman, Adeeba
AU - Lim, Koo Koon
AU - Mohd Nor, Mohd Afiq
AU - Pang, Yong Kek
AU - Ponnampalavanar, Sasheela
AU - Shahib, Muhammad Fadzil
AU - Syed Omar, Sharifah Faridah
AU - Chan, Jonathan Chia Jui
AU - Perera, David
AU - Chan, Yoke Fun
N1 - Funding Information:
We gratefully acknowledge the authors from originating and submitting laboratories of GISAID sequence data on which the analysis is based. This study was partly supported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, USA (grant number: HDTRA1‐17‐1‐0027) and the Ministry of Education, Malaysia (grant number: FRGS/1/2020/SKK0/UM/02/5). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The serology kits were kindly donated by Xiamen University, China.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC
PY - 2022/3
Y1 - 2022/3
N2 - Malaysia has experienced three waves of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as of March 31, 2021. We studied the associated molecular epidemiology and SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence during the third wave. We obtained 60 whole-genome SARS-CoV-2 sequences between October 2020 and January 2021 in Kuala Lumpur/Selangor and analyzed 989 available Malaysian sequences. We tested 653 residual serum samples collected between December 2020 to April 2021 for anti-SARS-CoV-2 total antibodies, as a proxy for population immunity. The first wave (January 2020) comprised sporadic imported cases from China of early Pango lineages A and B. The second wave (March–June 2020) was associated with lineage B.6. The ongoing third wave (from September 2020) was propagated by a state election in Sabah. It is due to lineage B.1.524 viruses containing spike mutations D614G and A701V. Lineages B.1.459, B.1.470, and B.1.466.2 were likely imported from the region and confined to Sarawak state. Direct age-standardized seroprevalence in Kuala Lumpur/Selangor was 3.0%. The second and third waves were driven by super-spreading events and different circulating lineages. Malaysia is highly susceptible to further waves, especially as alpha (B.1.1.7) and beta (B.1.351) variants of concern were first detected in December 2020/January 2021. Increased genomic surveillance is critical.
AB - Malaysia has experienced three waves of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as of March 31, 2021. We studied the associated molecular epidemiology and SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence during the third wave. We obtained 60 whole-genome SARS-CoV-2 sequences between October 2020 and January 2021 in Kuala Lumpur/Selangor and analyzed 989 available Malaysian sequences. We tested 653 residual serum samples collected between December 2020 to April 2021 for anti-SARS-CoV-2 total antibodies, as a proxy for population immunity. The first wave (January 2020) comprised sporadic imported cases from China of early Pango lineages A and B. The second wave (March–June 2020) was associated with lineage B.6. The ongoing third wave (from September 2020) was propagated by a state election in Sabah. It is due to lineage B.1.524 viruses containing spike mutations D614G and A701V. Lineages B.1.459, B.1.470, and B.1.466.2 were likely imported from the region and confined to Sarawak state. Direct age-standardized seroprevalence in Kuala Lumpur/Selangor was 3.0%. The second and third waves were driven by super-spreading events and different circulating lineages. Malaysia is highly susceptible to further waves, especially as alpha (B.1.1.7) and beta (B.1.351) variants of concern were first detected in December 2020/January 2021. Increased genomic surveillance is critical.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85119010583&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/jmv.27441
DO - 10.1002/jmv.27441
M3 - Article
C2 - 34757638
AN - SCOPUS:85119010583
SN - 0146-6615
VL - 94
SP - 1146
EP - 1153
JO - Journal of Medical Virology
JF - Journal of Medical Virology
IS - 3
ER -
