PETALING JAYA: A total of 298 new cases of Covid-19 variants of concern (VOC) were reported between Nov 19 and Dec 8 this year, says Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pic).

       The variants comprised Delta (B.1.617.2), Beta (B.1.1351), and one case of Omicron (B.1.1.529).

       The 298 cases were identified by the Institute for Medical Research (IMR), Universiti Malaya’s Faculty of Medicine, the Integrative Pharmacogenomics Institute, the Tropical Infectious Diseases Research & Education Centre and Hospital Universiti Putra Malaysia.

       “The cumulative number of Covid-19 cases categorised as VOC and Variants of Interest (VOI) is 4,990 cases. Of the total of those detected, 4,970 cases were VOC while 20 cases were VOI,” said Dr Noor Hisham in his daily Covid-19 update yesterday.

       Of the cumulative VOC cases, 4,722 cases were Delta; 233 Beta; 14 Alpha; and one Omicron. For VOI detected, 13 cases were Theta, four Kappa cases and three Eta cases.

       Between Nov 19 and Dec 8, Selangor recorded the highest number of VOC with 85 cases, followed by Perak (40), and Penang (39).

       Meanwhile, 4,626 new Covid-19 cases and 4,690 recoveries were recorded yesterday.

       Malaysia’s cumulative Covid-19 infections now stand at 2,688,149.

       However, there were also a total of 2,596,509 recoveries to date.

       There are 396 cases requiring treatment in intensive care units (ICU), of which 211 cases required ventilator support.

       Dr Noor Hisham said that of the new 4,626 daily cases, 95 cases (2.1%) were from categories 3, 4 and 5 while 4,531 cases (97.9%) were from categories 1 and 2.

       Category 1 means a patient is asymptomatic. Category 2 is for those with mild symptoms. Category 3 cases experience pneumonia while cases in Category 4 have pneumonia and require oxygen. Category 5 patients are in a critical stage requiring ventilator support.

       Of the new cases, 20 were imported cases while 4,606 were local infections.

       The total number of active clusters is now 250. There were six new clusters.

       The latest data by the Health Ministry also showed that the Covid-19 infectivity rate or R-naught (Rt) in Malaysia was 0.97, with Negri Sembilan registering the highest at 1.06, followed by Perlis (1.05) and Melaka (1.03). The states with the lowest recorded Rt were Sabah (0.87), Labuan (0.86) and Sarawak (0.72).