JOHOR recorded its two earliest cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 involving a couple who returned home from Saudi Arabia, said state Health and Environment Committee chairman R. Vidyananthan.

He said the couple left the country on December 4 to perform the umrah and returned to Malaysia via Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on December 16.

“The PCR screening test at the international gateway conducted on December 16 was found positive on December 18. The PCR samples were then sent to the Institute for Medical Research (IMR) for the genome sequencing process and the results were later found to be Omicron positive.

“Both cases are undergoing isolation at home and all close contacts to both cases have been identified and instructed to undergo home quarantine,” he said in a statement today.

With this latest development, Vidyananthan reminded Johor folk returning from abroad, especially those returning from their umrah pilgrimage, to comply with the stipulated quarantine order.

Yesterday, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said a total of 49 new cases of the Omicron variant had been detected in the country as of last Friday.

Thirty of the cases involved Malaysians who arrived from Saudi Arabia between December 13 and December 17, while the remaining were arrivals from the United Kingdom, Qatar, United States, Nigeria, Turkey, Italy, Ghana and the United Arab Emirates.

Meanwhile, Malacca’s Health Department confirmed detecting an Omicron variant positive case in the state yesterday.

Health and Anti-Drugs Committee chairman Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh said the case involved a 34-year-old woman who had just returned from Saudi Arabia after performing umrah from December 4 to December 15.

“The woman, her husband and family members left Jeddah via King Abdul Aziz International Airport and arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on December 15.

At KLIA, she underwent the Covid-19 PCR test and returned to Malacca in a rental tour van arranged by their travel agent. The case was also ordered to undergo home surveillance order for seven days,’’ he told a press conference at Wisma Persekutuan here today.

According to Akmal, the PCR test result returned positive for Covid-19 on December 18 and was referred to the Bukit Serendit CAC and later told to undergo isolation at home because this was a category 1 and asymptomatic case.

He urged those who boarded Saudi Airlines flight SV3842 and arrived at KLIA on December 15 at 9.50pm and have not been contacted by any Health Ministry officer, to lodge a report and immediately undergo self-quarantine to prevent the spread of infection. – Bernama, December 26, 2021.