ONE of two main Covid-19 variants found to be spreading rapidly in China – BA.5.2 – was detected in Malaysia since early last year, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said. 

The health director-general said that the BA.5.2 variant was first detected in Malaysia in March, while the BF.7, one of the concerning sub-variants of Omicron causing the current devastating wave of Covid-19 pandemic in China was detected in August. 

“The BA.5.2 variant, the peak of the spread of this variant was around September-October and was found in countries such as South Africa, United Kingdom and the United States. It has been detected in Malaysia since March 16.

“As for the BF.7 variant, the peak of transmission was in October and it is widely found in countries such as Belgium, United Kingdom, Denmark and even China. It was detected in Malaysia on August 21,” Noor Hisham said in a Facebook post today. 

Noor Hisham said of the three cases involving the BF.7 variant, the first was of a local infection traced on August 21 while the second case was an imported infection from Turkey traced on September 6, and the third a local infection detected on October 7. 

Based on the latest data, dated December 31, Noor Hisham said that 4,152 cases have been infected with BA.5.2, while there were only three cases involving the BF.7 variant. 

He said that the prevalence of the BA.5.2 strain is decreasing worldwide.  

Yesterday, Noor Hisham said that the two main Covid-19 variants found to be spreading rapidly in China were detected in Malaysia. 

He, however, clarified that there was no data linking serious cases or deaths to the BA.5.2 and BF.7 variants. – January 3, 2023.