COVID: 23 cases involving variants of concern detected - Health DG

KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Health has detected a total of 23 cases of COVID-19 Variants of Concern (VOC) as a result of continuous genomic surveillance from June 3 to June 8, namely 19 Beta variant cases (B.1.351) and four Delta variant cases (B.1.617.2).

Through a post on his official Facebook, Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the reported Beta variant cases (B.1.351) included eight cases in Selangor, three in Putrajaya, two each in Kuala Lumpur, Melaka and Kedah, as well as one case each in Perak and Perlis.

He said two cases of the Delta variant (B.1.617.2) were each detected in Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur.

Dr Noor Hisham said that the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases categorised as VOCs and Variants of Interest (VOIs) was 161 cases as of yesterday.

Of the total, 145 cases were VOC while 16 cases were listed as VOI.

The total VOC cases reported was 123 cases of the Beta variant (B.1.351), 13 cases of the Delta variant (B.1.617.2), nine cases of the Alpha variant (B.1.1.7), while the VOI cases registered were 12 cases of the Theta variant (P. 3), three cases of the Eta variant (B.1.525) and one case of the Kappa variant (B.1.617.1).

"MOH will continue to strengthen infectious disease control activities including continuing genomic surveillance for SARS-CoV-2, 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," he said.

Dr Noor Hisham also advised the public to register for the COVID-19 vaccination to help the country achieve herd immunity.

-- BERNAMA