By Wahida Fitriah
KUALA LUMPUR, 22 January 2022: Omicron will invariably surpass Delta as the primary COVID-19 variant of concern here as nine in 10 cases arriving in the country were of the former, Health Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin said yesterday.
Khairy also repeated his warning of a possible surge in cases between February and March based on his Ministry’s projection that took into account the growing prevalence of Omicron cases.
“So, it will be a matter of time before Omicron overtakes Delta in the local cases, and the modelling we do at the Health Ministry suggests that Omicron cases and cases in general will rise in February and March.
“What we are seeing, however, is that the cases are not serious or as serious as Delta.
“So, we have not seen a corresponding rise in hospitalisations, certainly not in deaths and also in admission to intensive care units,” he told a press conference.
Khairy said the ministry’s assumption at the moment was that Omicron will create a new wave of cases that would not necessarily overwhelm the country’s healthcare system unlike with Delta last year.
Just last month, Khairy had warned of an imminent surge in new COVID-19 cases involving the highly transmissible COVID-19 Omicron variant since the virus has already begun to spread within the community.
Khairy said the present situation was exacerbated by some international arrivals who were found to have breached their quarantine order. ***
Source: Malay Mail