THE Health Ministry (MOH) has detected 11 more cases of the Covid-19 variant Omicron, said Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah today.

He said the new infections are imported cases from the United Kingdom (3), the United States (3), Nigeria (2), Saudi Arabia (2) and Australia (1).

Six patients have been isolated at a quarantine centre, while five are undergoing self-quarantine at home.

The latest infections bring the total number of Omicron cases in the country to 13.

The 11 patients are among the 18 patients that the government is currently monitoring, said Dr Noor Hisham.

He said nine are Malaysians and two are Nigerians, adding that eight patients have minor symptoms, while the others have none.

On the other seven patients, MOH cannot determine whether they are infected with the new variant as low viral loads make it hard to undertake genome sequencing.

“The sources of infection and their close contacts are being further investigated.”

The government has also detected 13 more probable Omicron cases and is awaiting the results of further tests.

Dr Noor Hisham said from December 11 to 17, MOH has discovered 222 Covid-19 cases containing variants, comprising 211 Delta cases and the 11 Omicron cases.

Overall, 5,213 variant infections have been discovered.

Malaysia has recorded 2.71 million Covid-19 cases and 31,044 deaths since the onset of the pandemic. – December 18, 2021.