KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 (KUNA) -- The first positive case of the Covid-19 variant of Omicron has been detected in Malaysia in a student from South Africa, said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin on Friday.
The foreigner, who is studying in a private university in Ipoh, Perak, arrived in Malaysia from Singapore on November 19, the minister said in a press conference.
The Omicron case was confirmed on Thursday based on a sample taken from the 19-year-old student, who took the COVID-19 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test upon arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), he added.
On November 26, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated Omicron as a Covid-19 variant of concern on the advice of its Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution (TAG-VE). (end) aab.mt