KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is entering a new Covid-19 wave, with the Omicron BA.5 sub-variant already present in the country.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the ministry had detected five BA.5 sub-variant cases through genomic sequencing as of June 30.
"As of June 30, the Health Ministry has detected 13 Omicron sublineages, which we are monitoring closely, including six BA.2.12.1 cases, five BA.5 cases, and two BA.5.2 cases.
"This means that BA.5 is present in the country. These cases were found through genomic sequencing that was made on positive cases between May and June.
"There is a big possibility that BA5 has spread widely in Malaysia," he said in a press conference at Parliament today.
Khairy said no BA.4 sub-variant had been detected.
Khairy also said the ministry had expected the rise in new cases due to the Omicron sub-variants, particularly the BA.5 sub-variant.
He added that BA.5 was the most transmissible version of Covid-19 to date compared with the BA.1 and BA.2 Omicron sub-variants.
"BA.5 can re-infect those who had been infected with the Omicron variant, (because it has) immune-escape properties.
"That is why a good deal of re-infections happen in a short time," he said.
Khairy advised the public to continue adopting public health measures and to practice TRIIS (test, report, inform, isolate, and support).
It was crucial, he added, to continue reporting positive cases in MySejahtera, so the ministry had an accurate picture of the number of cases in the country.
Up to July 7, the number of people tested and recorded was 41,297, including 4,874 RT-PCR tests, said Khairy. The rest were professional RTK-Antigen (25,217) and self-testing (10,711).
"This data is important. If we do not get it, we will not know the real positivity rate."
He said, however, that it was hard to predict the peak of the fourth wave as the number of RT-PCR tests had reduced, resulting in lesser genomic sequencing being conducted.
"When the number of RT-PCR testing and genomic sequencing decreases, we will not know the prevalence of BA.5, and the information may not be up-to-date.
"But I expect that cases will peak in three months."