PETALING JAYA: A foreign student in Ipoh, Perak, who had been vaccinated against Covid-19, became the first in the country to be an identified case of the Omicron variant, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin announced today.
This was confirmed based on a sample taken from the student who entered to the country on Nov 19.
“The case involves a 19-yar-old foreign student studying at a private higher education institution in Ipoh, Perak.
“The student arrived in the country via Singapore on Nov 19 and had undergone screening upon arrival at KLIA.
“The sample was flagged as the Omicron variant of concern on Dec 2 through genome typing assays,“ Khairy told reporters in a press conference today.
He further pointed out that the asymptomatic student has completed her 10-day quarantine period. All her close contacts have been tested and found negative.
She had undergone quarantine at her apartment in Ipoh.
Khairy also assured that rigorous contact tracing had been done on the student’s close contacts, including those on the flight.
“There were five individuals in the bus that transported the student and other passengers. All were tested twice and the result was negative,“ he added.
According to Khairy, the detection shows that the ministry’s backend tracing, contact tracing, and quarantine efforts were effective.
“There’s no need to panic and there has been no surge in infections in Ipoh, or Perak,“ he stressed.
