PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) -  Malaysia is facing an infection wave of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, with daily cases expected to reach 15,000 soon, said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

“Fully into the Omicron wave. The (daily) cases will hit 15,000 soon.

“There are still one million senior citizens who do not have a booster dose.

“Please inform your loved ones to get a booster dose immediately,” he said in a tweet on Sunday (Feb 6).

Malaysia on Sunday reported 10,089 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the cumulative infections to 2.914 million, health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a tweet.

The new caseload was last above the 10,000-mark a day four months ago on Oct 2.

Malaysia on Saturday reported 9,117 new cases, with Dr Noor Hisham saying that 99 per cent of these were in categories one and two.

Category one patients are asymptomatic, while those in category two have mild symptoms.

In a separate tweet, Dr Noor Hisham gave a more alarming number, saying daily Covid-19 cases could reach 22,000 a day by the end of March if the infectivity rate (Rt) remains at 1.2.

However, he said that Malaysia’s good vaccination coverage would ensure the severity of Covid-19 infections remained low.

“At present, if the Rt level is at 1.2. we expect to reach 22,000 cases by the end of March 2022," he said. An infectivity rate of 1.0 means an infected person, on average, will infect at least one other person.

“However, with wide vaccine coverage and booster doses, we can reduce the severity of Covid-19 cases,” said Dr Noor Hisham in a tweet.

There were another 14 deaths caused by Covid-19 reported on Saturday, bringing the total number of those who died due to the pandemic to 32,025.

The government will give more details on the daily caseloads and other information after midnight on its CovidNow website.

The CovidNow website showed that 78.8 per cent of the country's total population has been fully vaccinated, with 37.7 having received booster shots.