He encouraged the public to continue wearing face masks in crowded and closed areas, practise the TRIIS (Test, Report, Isolate, Inform, Seek) method, and urged the use of the Paxlovid medication for high-risk patients.

“Covid-19 cases reached almost 4,000 today. About 96% are in Category 1 and 2.

“We are facing a wave of infections. Whether the wave is big or small depends on our actions,” he said on Twitter.

On Monday, Khairy was quoted as saying that the country was currently experiencing a small wave of Covid-19 cases following the discovery of the Omicron XBB sub-variant locally.

The Edge Markets reported him saying that based on daily data, the number of new Covid-19 cases had increased by 16.5%, from 14,525 cases in epidemiological week (EW) 42 to 16,917 cases in EW 43 (Oct 23 to 29).

Khairy said the number of admissions of Covid-19 patients to health facilities (public hospitals) per 100,000 population also showed an increase of 14.3% in EW 43 compared with EW 42.

On the four XBB cases, Khairy said they involved three men and a woman, aged 25 to 51, from Selangor and Negeri Sembilan. All of them were in Category 2 and experienced mild symptoms of fever, cough, sore throat and flu.

He reminded the public to always be extra careful, especially with the country entering the campaign period of the 15th general election.