PETALING JAYA: A total of 199 new cases involving variants of concern (VOC) have been identified including 106 cases of the Delta variant, says Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pic).

       The Health director-general said that ongoing studies by the Institute of Medical Research (IMR) and the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) Institution of Community Health and Medicine (IHCM) have identified the other VOCs as 10 Beta variant cases (B.1.351) and three Alpha variant cases (B.1.1.7).

       "This brings the cumulative number of cases infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus categorised as VOCs and VOIs to 429 cases.

       "Of the total detected, 409 cases were VOCs while 20 cases were Variants of Interest (VOI).

       Dr Noor Hisham said the total of VOCs to date are 206 cases of the Beta variant, 189 cases of the Delta variant and 14 cases of the Alpha variant, while for VOIs, there are 13 cases of Theta variant, four cases of the Kappa variant, and three cases of the Eta variant.