KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia has reported another 123 cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, and 88 of them are those returning from the Umrah pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said on Thursday.
Khairy said the country has detected 245 Omicron cases, of which 233 are imported and 12 are local transmissions. Some 157, or 64.08 percent of the total, are those returning from Saudi Arabia, he told a press conference.
While those infected with the Omicron variant have mostly presented mild symptoms, Khairy warned that a surge in cases would place the country's recovering healthcare system under renewed stress.
"The problem is the high infectivity of Omicron," he said. ■
