COVID-19: MOH probes 17 Omicron infection cases with no records of vaccination

KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Health (MOH) has detected 17 out of 122 individuals who were infected with Omicron variant as of Jan 4, were found not to have COVID-19 vaccination record.

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said MOH is investigating the matter on the records of travellers from abroad who have no vaccination history due to health problems or other reasons.

He said 10 of them involved Malaysians while seven others were foreigners.

"The Omicron import cases without vaccination records are from United Kingdom with four cases, Nigeria (four), United Arab Emirates (four) and one each from the United States, Australia, Ghana, Ireland as well as Saudi Arabia," he told a media conference here today.

According to Khairy, initial MOH investigations found 122 positive Omicron cases after entering Malaysia with 14 per cent or 17 cases without vaccination.

"Here, there is a non-compliance of standard operating procedure (SOP) as only those who have been vaccinated are allowed to travel," he said.

Meanwhile, Khairy said the cumulative positive COVID-19 Omicron variant cases detected in Malaysia is 245 cases with 157 cases or 64.08 per cent comprising umrah pilgrims.

Following this, he said the Cabinet yesterday ordered the temporary postponement of umrah for a month from Jan 8 to enable a risk assessment to be carried out before allowing the pilgrimage to resume.

He said MOH with the relevant ministries and agencies would be updating the SOP for umrah, among them the requirement to take the booster dose and the monitoring of health status of umrah pilgrims in Saudi Arabia.

At the same time, Khairy said the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry would be holding discussions with tour agents to reschedule umrah while the Transport Ministry would manage the flight schedule.

"MOH would like to remind individuals who have been directed to undergo compulsory quarantine at home to comply with the order and to remain isolated and not to meet any family members in the house," he said.

According to him, failure to comply with the order could spread COVID-19 including the Omicron variant to family members and the community.

MOH also urged individuals who are eligible for COVID-19 vaccine to take the booster shot to achieve optimum level of protection and avoid COVID-19 infection as well as its complications.

-- BERNAMA