Omicron variants dominant in China detected in Malaysia since March, August 2022

The Covid-19 Omicron variants of BA.5.2 and BF.7, which make up about 80% of the variants currently infecting China, had been detected in Malaysia since March 16  and Aug 21 last year, respectively.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the first case of BF.7 detected on Aug 21 was a local infection, while the second on Sept 6 was an imported infection from Turkiye. The third on Oct 7 was another case of local infection.

"At the global level, for the BA.5.2 variant, the peak transmission period was around September to October 2022, with most cases detected in countries such as South Africa, England, China and the US.

"For the BF.7 variant, the peak of transmission was in October 2022, mostly detected in countries like Belgium, England, Denmark and China," he said in a Facebook post.

Yesterday, Noor Hisham said that as of Dec 31 last year, there were 4,148 cases of the BA.5.2 variant and three cases of the BF.7 variant in the country.