Health Ministry identifies 186 Covid-19 VOC cases - all Omicron

The Health Ministry sequenced 186 Covid-19 samples since last Friday (Jan 14), all of which have turned out to be the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

According to findings announced by Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah today, this brings the cumulative number of genomically confirmed Omicron cases in Malaysia to 439 – 385 imported and 54 locally transmitted cases.

By comparing today’s findings with those previously announced, Malaysiakini found the newly identified cases comprises 149 imported and 37 locally transmitted cases.

The new locally transmitted cases were detected in:

• Sarawak (24)
• Selangor (6)
• Labuan (4)
• Sabah (2)
• Pahang (1)

As for the 149 newly identified imported cases, they were detected in:

• Selangor (35)
• Penang (25)
• Kuala Lumpur (17)
• Perak (16)
• Negeri Sembilan (12)
• Kelantan (9)
• Pahang (8)
• Kedah (8)
• Terengganu (7)
• Malacca (5)
• Sabah (3)
• Sarawak (2)
• Perlis (1)
• Putrajaya (1)

Compared to previously announced sequencing results, this is the first time all samples have turned out to be the Omicron variant.

From Jan 3 to 10, a total of 99 Covid-19 samples were sequenced, of which 91 were identified as the Delta variant and eight were Omicron.

From Jan 10 to 14, another 486 samples were sequenced, all of which were identified as Delta.

The latest announcement is based on sequencing results from Jan 14 to 18.

The genomic sequencing was carried out by:

• Integrative Pharmacogenomics Institute, Universiti Teknologi Mara (46 samples)
• Tropical Infectious Diseases Research & Education Centre, Universiti Malaya (43 samples)
• Malaysia Genome and Vaccine Institute (43 samples)
• Institute of Medical Research (28 samples)
• Institute of Health and Community Medicine at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (26 samples)

However, it should be noted that Malaysia sequences only a tiny portion of its Covid-19 cases, which limits the country’s ability to track the spread of variants.

Moreover, the samples selected to undergo sequencing are not random, meaning the proportion of identified variants is not necessarily indicative of relative prevalence of each variant in the community.

High-risk cases that are prioritised for sequencing include Covid-19 cases involving international travellers, cases from areas experiencing a surge in case numbers, cases of Covid-19 reinfection, and cases with a Covid-19 symptom but persistently test negative in PCR tests or have an S-gene dropout, among others.

Genomically confirmed variant of interest (VOI) and variant of concern (VOC) Covid-19 cases in Malaysia up to Jan 18, 2022. Numbers are cumulative from beginning of pandemic.

- Mkini