Minister Dr S Subramaniam said studies show that 95 per cent of the time, newborns whose mothers were infected with Zika were free of the virus.

“Not all the mothers infected with the Zika virus will pass it on to their babies and lead to birth defects.

“The percentage is very small,” he said, adding that pregnant women should seek advice from their doctors.

Subramaniam was speaking to reporters after launching the 11th Allied Health Scientific Conference Malaysia 2016, here Tuesday.

A blood test and a scan, he explained, were enough to determine if “anything had gone wrong” with the baby.

Subramaniam also urged those planning to conceive to seek advice from a doctor before proceeding to determine the right time to get pregnant.

The ministry, he revealed, would also be carrying out genetic tests to determine if the Zika virus that has reached Malaysian shores is of the African strain or Asian strain – the two types of Zika virus in existence.

“We want to know if we are dealing with the same strain that has infected those in Singapore. We will share this information once the test results are out.”

Subramaniam also clarified that there was no South African strain.

On Saturday, Singapore reported 215 cases of Zika infections, and said the virus strain came from within Asia and was not imported from Brazil.

Subramaniam also explained the difference between Zika virus and dengue.

He said dengue was still found to be a lot more problematic to contain than the Zika virus. This, he said, was because dengue could infect others before the symptoms were known to the patient.

“But Zika virus will only spread when the symptoms, such as fever, skin rash and vomiting, are at its peak.

“It is easier to contain because the doctors would know it. Furthermore, once a person is infected with Zika, they will have the immunity against it.”

There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which is a close cousin of dengue and chikungunya. In both cases, the virus causes mild fever, rash and red eyes.