KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry today confirmed 11 Covid-19 Omicron variant cases have been detected in the country, thus far.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the 11 confirmed cases were from the 18 suspected Omicron-fueled variant cases announced by Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin on Dec 16.
Dr Noor Hisham said this brings a cumulative total of Covid-19 Omicron variant to 13 cases.
"The Omicron variant cases detected were all imported cases, involving three from the United Kingdom, United States (3), Nigeria (2), Saudi Arabia (2) and Australia (1).
"Nine out of 11 cases are Malaysians, while the remaining two are Nigerians.
"Eight cases are symptomatic patients who are currently in Category 2, and three other are asymptomatic," he said in a statement, today.
Dr Noor Hisham said five patients are currently observing home quarantine, while the remaining six are at quarantine centres.
He said all patients are still under investigation to identify the cause of infection and their close contacts.
Dr Noor Hisham added that the remaining seven suspected Omicron-variant cases could not be confirmed due to unsuccessful full genome sequence testing.
"The full genome sequence testing could not be performed due to low level of viral load in the samples received.
"The seven samples were found to have high threshold cycle value (CT value) in which, six samples have CT value exceeding 30 and one sample had a CT value of 28.47".
He said the Institute for Medical Research (IMR) has also detected 13 more imported cases that are Omicron-variant possible on Dec 17.
"We are currently waiting for more information on the results from the full genome sequence, and we will be announcing updates from time to time," he said.
He said the ministry have reported 222 new cases involving variants from Dec 11 till 17, 2021.
"IMR have identified 128 new cases which are Variants of Concern (VoC) related cases, namely 117 Delta variants (B.1.617.2), and 11 Omicron variants (B.1.1.529).
"The Malaysian Genome and Vaccine Institute (MGI) have identified a total of 48 Delta variant cases and the UKM Medical Molecular Biology Institute (UMBI) have also identified 46 new Delta variants cases," he said.
Dr Noor Hisham said the cumulative total of Covid-19 cases categorised as VoC and Variant of Interest (VoI) now stands at 5,213 cases.
"A total of 5,193 cases were VoC-related, while 20 cases were VoI-related.
"There are 4,933 VoC cases related to Delta variant, 233 cases of Beta variant, 14 cases of Alpha variant and 13 cases of Omicron variant.
"Meanwhile there are 13 cases of Theta variant, four Kappa variant and three Eta variant cases reported," he said.
Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry is enhancing Covid-19 control and prevention measures at all international gateways and within the community.
The ministry, he said also encourage every individual to take booster shots to achieve the optimal level of protection, to curb the Covid-19 spread in the country.