MELAKA, May 21 — The Melaka Health Department needs about two weeks to confirm the type of virus variant that infected a female teacher who died of Covid-19 on Wednesday.

State Health director Datuk Dr Ismail Ali also rubbished claims that the teacher was infected with a new Covid-19 variant.

He said the genomic surveillance of Covid-19 samples conducted by the Institute for Medical Research (IMR) was to identify and confirm the variant of the virus.

"It is a complex process and takes two weeks,” he said in a statement here today.

Therefore, he called on the people to stop spreading false news regarding the teacher’s death.

Dr Ismail said the deceased became unwell on May 5 and had received treatment twice at a private clinic near her house before having cough and shortness of breath starting May 17.

"At 5am on May 19, the deceased was found unconscious. She was immediately sent to the Melaka Hospital, given respiratory assistance and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for further treatment.

"The result of her Covid-19 RT-PCR test was positive and her condition deteriorated before she died on May 19, at 11.40pm,” he said. — Bernama