The case involves a woman in Kuching with no recent travel history; separately, Indonesia reported Dec 23 three imported Omicron cases from Congo and Malaysia among Indonesian migrant workers.
Although the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) projects nearly 300,000 daily Covid-19 cases in Malaysia by end Jan, hospitalisation and deaths are expected to rise minimally, much lower than the Aug-Sept 2021 height of the epidemic.
Covid-19 vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic Omicron infection is estimated at between 0% and 20% after two doses, and between 55% and 80% after a booster dose.
“There's a big likelihood that Omicron is in Malaysia, there are other cases, and we will increase genomic surveillance to be certain,” says Khairy Jamaluddin.
The Omicron Covid-19 variant was found in a 19-year-old female foreign student who arrived in Malaysia on Nov 19 from South Africa via a Singapore transit and complied with home quarantine in Ipoh, Perak.