KOTA KINABALU, Jan 5 — A local man who returned to the country on December 19 after performing umrah became the first case of Covid-19 Omicron variant to be detected in Sabah, said state Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun.

The Sabah Covid-19 spokesman said the man and his wife performed umrah from December 9 to 18 and returned to Malaysia on December 19 via Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

He said the patient and his wife arrived in Tawau on December 20 and were ordered to undergo quarantine at home but the ‘whole genome sequencing’ test result on January 4 showed the patient was positive for Omicron variant.

"While being confirmed positive for Covid-19 earlier, the husband placed in category 2 while the wife was in category 1. Both completed their quarantine on January 1, 2022, and had recovered from the virus infection. (Note: the patient recovered from infection before the Covid-19 infection of the patient was confirmed an Omicron patient on January 4).

"The patient’s wife who was also undergoing quarantine at the same time as the husband, was found positive for Covid-19 on December 24, 2021, while her whole genome sequencing test is still in progress,” he said in a statement here today.

He added that the couple had completed their Covid-19 vaccination in June last year and both are currently in good health.

Commenting on Covid-19 cases in Sabah, Masidi said the state recorded 280 cases today compared to 258 yesterday. — Bernama