“As of December 31, there have been 4,148 cases of BA.5.2 infection and three cases of BF.7 infection,” said Malaysian director-general of health, Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah, in a statement reported today by the Malaysian news agency, Tuesday, explaining that there is no data that could link the increase in the number of cases of injury or death to either variable.
He noted that these variants are classified as Omicron BA.5 subspecies and have not been classified as a variant strain of concern (VOC) under surveillance (LUM), i.e. they are closely monitored by WHO.
He noted that both variants cause reinfection or have a higher transmission rate due to the high number of cases in China.
He noted that the Malaysian Ministry of Health will reconsider the current situation from time to time when there are major changes which, in turn, require a change in public health strategy.
