Kuala Lumpur, Sept. 22 -- Malaysian Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said the country is closely monitoring a new COVID-19 variant named XFG after its detection through genomic surveillance.
The XFG variant, a sublineage of Omicron, was classified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on June 25 as a "variant under monitoring" due to its high transmissibility and immune evasion.
However, Dzulkefly stressed that it is not considered concerning in terms of virulence and does not cause more severe symptoms than other Omicron strains. Despite its faster spread, it has not been linked to increased disease severity.
The latest genomic surveillance data announced by the Malaysian Ministry of Health shows that the XFG variant accounts for 8.2% o...