KUALA LUMPUR – A total of 16 Covid-19 clusters involving umrah pilgrims returning from Saudi Arabia have been detected from November 25, 2021 until today, with seven of the clusters’ index cases confirmed to be of the Omicron variant.
Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said six clusters involved presumed Omicron index cases, which are awaiting whole genome sequencing results, and three involved non-Omicron Covid-19 positive index cases.
He said infections were due to the lack of physical distancing and compulsion to wear face masks, exacerbated by the fact that the pilgrims all came from different parts of the world.
“Apart from that, when undergoing home quarantine upon returning from their pilgrimages, people were visiting pilgrims or family members who had just returned from the Holy Land.
“The increasing number of clusters among umrah pilgrims as reported is serious and worrying because it happened in a short period. The transmission of imported cases among family members also occurred quickly,” he said in a media statement today.
Dr Noor Hisham said a total of 456 individuals had been screened from the clusters involving umrah pilgrims, with 219 positive cases identified, thus taking the positivity rate to 48%.
He said that all the 219 cases were in categories one and two and, so far, none of the cases required treatment in intensive care units, and no fatalities were reported from the clusters involving umrah pilgrims.
Dr Noor Hisham said the country’s cumulative total of Covid-19 recoveries now stood at 2,720,399 after 2,977 more recovered cases were recorded as of noon today, while a total of 3,175 new cases were reported, taking the total number of infections to 2,792,035.
He said that a total of 99 new cases of variants of concern were reported from January 3 until yesterday, with 91 being new Delta cases and eight being Omicron cases. – Bernama, January 11, 2022
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