Malaysia has detected its first two Covid-19 cases of Nigerian SARS-CoV-2, also known as the B.1.525 variant, in two infected foreign nationals who had flown in from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

They were found to be Covid-19 positive by a swab RT PCR test after arriving from Dubai, he said in a post today on his Facebook account.

"The Institute for Medical Research (IMR) subsequently proceeded to do full genome sequencing due to their travel history. Further analysis indicated...