Lagatar24 Desk
Kuala Lumpur, Dec 3: Malaysia on Friday detected its first case of the new omicron strain of the coronavirus. The new variant has been detected in a foreign student who returned to the country on November 19, after visiting her family in South Africa, said Malaysian Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin on Friday.
The Malaysian health authorities detected the first case by revisiting all positive COVID-19 tests obtained at Kuala Lumpur International Airport from November 11 to 28. Genomic sequencing found a case of Omicron infection among them, the minister said.
“What is important is the individual fully complied with home quarantine… is fully vaccinated and was asymptomatic. We have done both automated and manual contact tracing and so far this case is contained,” Khairy tweeted.
Notably, due to the emergence of the Omicron strain in several countries, Malaysia has temporarily suspended entry to its isolated tourist zone-Travel Bubble on the Langkawi archipelago for travelers from many countries.