KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry has reported six more cases of Covid-19 XBB1.16 or the Arcturus variant, bringing its total number of reported cases to 12.
Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said of the new cases reported, four were detected in Selangor and two in Kuala Lumpur.
She however said patients infected by the strain, which is a subvariant of Omicron, only suffered mild symptoms and were in stable condition.
"The global risk assessment reported the infection risk and case severity caused by XBB1.16 to be lower than subvariant XBB.1.5 or any other subvariants as previously reported.
"Even though Malaysia has detected XBB.1.16 since March, Covid-19 infections are still under control and does not burden the health services capacity at hospitals and clinics," she said in a statement today.
Deputy Sarawak Premier Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian had also previously reported the first six cases of the variant detected in the state.
Meanwhile, Dr Zaliha said there was a 6.4 per cent drop in Covid-19 cases reported in Epidemiology Week (EW) 16/23 from 5,149 to 4,817 cases.
"To date, 70.97 per cent or 8,319 Covid-19 cases were categorised as Variants of Concern (VOC) and Variants of Interest (VOI), namely, Omicron and its subvariants.
"Omicron remains the only variant present at the moment. Hence, the ministry would like to remind the public to continue practising TRIIS (Test, Report, Isolate, Inform and Seek) if they experience any symptoms."
She reminded those who tested positive for Covid-19 to self-isolate immediately, and individuals in the high-risk groups such as senior citizens and children were encouraged to wear masks in crowded and confined public places.