This prompted the state Covid-19 advisory group to warn the people to adhere strictly to SOPs, especially during the festive period of Christmas, year-end holidays and New Year.

According to a statement from Dr David Perera, a member of the group, two of the cases were reported in Bintulu, involving a 52-year-old man returning from Nigeria. He was swabbed on Dec 19.

He said another case involved a 19-year-old male returning from the United Kingdom, who was tested on Dec 14.

The other two cases were detected in Kuching

David, who is also the director of the Institute of Health and Community Medicine, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), said that in light of possible local transmission of the Omicron variant in the community, the public should be extremely cautious.

“Public health SOPs need to be strictly adhered to and community gatherings avoided if possible to prevent further community spread,” he said.

He also advised the public to immediately get their booster shots if they have not done so as studies had shown that this was necessary to boost waning antibody levels to protect from the Omicron infection.

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