PUTRAJAYA DEC.18: The Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed that 11new imported Omicron variant have been detected namely from United Kingdom (3), United States of America (3), Nigeria (2) Saudi Arabia (2) and Australia (1).
Director General of Health, Tan Sri Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah said, 11 new cases were detected from 18 Omicron variant suspected cases that were announced by Minister of Health, Khairy Jamaluddin on 16 Dec. 2021.
Dr. Noor Hisham added, from the suspected cases, nine were involving Malaysians, two Nigerians while eight have symptoms in category 2 and three without symptoms; five have been undergoing home quarantine while six have been sent to the quarantine stations.
“All these cases are now under further investigation to identify the source of infections and close contacts. However seven samples could not be verified as Omicron variant following the Whole Sequencing Genome (WSG) could not be carried out successfully.
“With the 11 new Omicron variants detected, the cumulative total is now 13 in Malaysia,” Dr. Noor Hisham said in a statement here today.
In another development the Medical Research Institute (MRI) has detected 13 imported cases showing the Omicron variant probabilities on 17th Dec. 2021 and now waiting for the verification results from WSG.
“MOH also would like to inform that 222 new variant cases have been reported from 11th until 17th Dec.2021. MRI has identified 128 new cases, all of which are from Variant of Concern (VOC) namely 117 Delta variant (B.1.617.2) and 11 Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) in Malaysia.
“Meanwhile the Genome & Vaccine Institute (MGI) has identified 48 new cases all of which are from Delta variant (B.1.617.2). Besides that, UKM Medical Molecular Biology Institute (UMBI) has identified 46 new cases all of which are from VOC namely Delta variant (B.1.617.2).
“MOF is elevating the control and prevention of COVID-19 activities including Omicron variant in all international gateways and in the community. MOF encourages every individual to take the COVID-19 booster dose in order to have the optimum prevention to control COVID-19 pandemic from spreading in Malaysia,” Dr. Noor Hisham reiterated.-Malaysia World News
