KUALA LUMPUR – The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed the discovery of another Omicron Covid-19 variant case in the country.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar said that the MOH has discovered two Omicron cases to date.
“These two cases were imported from overseas.
“The latest case was detected from an eight-years-old girl, a Malaysian citizen who lived with her family in Lagos, Nigeria.
“The Covid-19 RT-PCR test on the case before she departed for Malaysia was negative,” he said during a news conference today.
The girl arrived in Malaysia with her mother and sister on 5 December from Lagos via the transit flight from Doha, Qatar.
“The case and her family members have gone for Covid-19 RT-PCR test upon arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and they were given the Surveillance Order under Section 15 of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342) to go for mandatory home quarantine.
“The RT-PCR result of the case during her arrival was confirmed Covid-19 positive on 7 December 2021. She did not show any symptoms and was ordered to be isolated at home for 14 days,” he said.
According to Khairy, the close contacts of the case are her mother, sister, father and the taxi driver who drove the girl and her family from KLIA to their home.
“The tests conducted on her mother and sister before departure and upon arrival at Malaysia, on the fifth and eleventh day were negative.
“The Covid-19 RT-PCR test on the taxi driver has been carried out. All three of them did not have any symptoms and have been ordered to go for 14 days quarantine. Meanwhile, her father arrived in Malaysia on 12 December 2021 and is undergoing quarantine at a private quarantine station. The RT-PCR test on her father upon arrival was negative,” Khairy said.
There were 35 contacts in the flight, four rows in front, behind, left and right.
“The Covid-19 RT PCR tests on all of them upon arrival and on the fifth day for all contacts were negative.
“Observation on the case and identified contacts will be done thoroughly,” he said.
Meanwhile, Khairy also said that the State Health Department and the District Health Office will continue their investigation including the contacts during the flight.
“At this moment, the cause of infection is still under investigation and MOH will continue the control and prevention of Covid-19, including the Omicron variant at all international entrance and in the community.
“Therefore, the MOH encourages everyone to take the Covid-19 booster dose to reach optimum protection in order to curb the outbreak in Malaysia,” he said.
Meanwhile, Khairy said that based on the PCR Genotyping Assay, 18 other cases showed the possibility for Omicron variant and is currently awaiting the confirmation result from the full genome sequencing.
“The result should be out on 17 December 2021.
“At the moment, we cannot say where these cases come from until the result is obtained,” he said. -MalaysiaGazette
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