COVID: 119 cases involving VOC, VOI detected - Health DG

KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry (MOH) has identified 119 cases of COVID-19 in the country which are infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, categorised as a Variant of Concern (VOC) and a Variant of Interest (VOI).

Health director-general (DG) Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said of the total, 14 cases were infections from abroad while 105 were local infections. There were 104 VOC cases and 15 VOI cases.

"The reported VOC cases involved 89 cases of variant B.1.351, nine cases of variant B.1.1.7 and six cases of variant B.1.617 while VOIs involved 12 cases of variant P.3 and three cases of variant B.1.525," he said in a statement yesterday.

According to Dr Noor Hisham, VOC variants of COVID-19 had been detected in every state in Malaysia today, especially for variant B.1.351, and most likely there has been a wider spread of at least one type of VOC in all states in Malaysia.

"As VOCs are found to have higher infectious rates, this situation needs to be taken seriously by every individual, and if the chain of transmission is not broken, it will continue to spread and it will be more difficult for us to curb the increase in COVID-19 cases," he said.

In this regard, he said the MOH would continue to strengthen infectious disease control activities including continuing genomic surveillance, increasing COVID-19 screening tests, conducting contact detection, and case isolation as well as other public health measures to curb the spread of these variants in the community.

Dr Noor Hisham said apart from the implementation of the "total lockdown" order starting tomorrow, the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) would also continue to be implemented for areas with a high number of cases.

He said the purpose of the EMCO was to curb the infection from spreading to other localities and it would enable case detection activities to be carried out in a targeted manner among the communities involved.

-- BERNAMA