PETALING JAYA: At least seven of the 16 clusters linked to umrah pilgrims returning home had confirmed index cases bearing the Omicron variant.

       In a statement yesterday, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the clusters were identified between Nov 25 and Jan 11.

       “From those 16 clusters, seven clusters had index cases that have been confirmed to be of the Omicron variant, with six index cases listed as presumptive Omicron, pending the results of its whole genome sequencing,” he said.

       With 36 cases, the Keratong 5 Saudi cluster has been identified as the biggest umrah pilgrim-linked cluster, with its index case confirmed to be the Omicron variant, with two imported infections and 34 cases from family contact.

       Between Jan 3 and 10, the ministry had detected 91 Delta variant cases and eight Omicron variant cases.