Omicron variants detected in Malaysia since last year

KUALA LUMPUR: Two Omicron variants, namely BA.5.2 and BF.7, which made up about 80% of the Covid-19 variants currently infecting China, have been detected in Malaysia since March 16 and Aug 21 last year, respectively.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the first case of BF.7 detected on Aug 21 was a case of local infection, the second on Sept 6 was a case of imported infection from Turkiye, while the third on Oct 7 was another local infection.

“At the global level, for the BA.5.2 variant, the peak transmission period was around Sept-Oct 2022, with most cases detected in countries such as South Africa, England, China and the United States.

“For the BF.7 variant, the peak of transmission was in October last year and was mostly detected in countries like Belgium, England, Denmark and China,” he said in a post on Facebook.

Dr Noor Hisham also said as of Dec 31 last year, there were 4,148 cases of BA.5.2 variant and three cases of BF.7 variant infections in the country. — Bernama