KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry has identified 119 Covid-19 cases nationwide that are linked to Variants of Concern (VOC) and Variants of Interest (VOI).
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, in a statement today said, 104 cases are categorised under VOC while the remaining 15 cases are classified as VOI.
He said, 14 of them are imported cases while 105 are local transmissions.
The 104 VOC cases, he said, comprised 89 cases linked to the B.1.351 variant (all locally transmitted), nine B.1.1.7 variant cases (five imported and four locally transmitted) and six B.1.617 variant cases (all imported).
As for the VOI cases, 12 of them are related to the P.3 variant (all locally transmitted) while three cases are linked to the B.1.525 variant (all imported).
To date, Selangor recorded the highest number of VOC and VOI infections (42 cases), followed by Sarawak (20 cases), Kelantan (18 cases), Kuala Lumpur (11 cases) and Perak (10 cases).
The highest number of B.1.351 variant infections occurred in Selangor (34 cases) while Sarawak reported the most number of P.3 variant infections (12 cases).
Dr Noor Hisham also hinted at the possibility of a widespread transmission of at least one VOC in the community in each state.
The ministry, he added, will enhance infection control measures, by continuing genome surveillance, ramping up testing, contact tracing, and isolation as well as through other public health interventions to curb the transmission of the variants.
As Malaysia begins a total lockdown tomorrow, Dr Noor Hisham said, the next two weeks would be very critical in breaking the chain of infection in the country.