KUALA LUMPUR: The Beta and Delta variants of concern (VOC) are dominating Covid-19 infections in the country, especially among unvaccinated individuals.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said as of July 22, full genomic surveillance has detected 392 cases related to three VOCs, namely 205 Beta cases, 173 Delta cases and 14 Alpha cases.
"The Delta variant has the highest transmission rate with potentially more severe infections compared to the other two variants.
"New scientific studies suggest that patients infected with Delta variant have an average of 1,000 times more viral copies in their body compared to patients infected with other variants," he said in a joint virtual press conference with Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme (NIP) coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin today.
Dr Adham also said more patients aged between 40 to 50 were being placed under critical care compared to older Covid-19 patients.
"Based on the report by the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) on the daily cases, there is an increase in bed capacity and ventilator usage in the intensive care units (ICU).
"There are more patients aged between 40 to 50 in ICUs compared to those aged 60 and above," he said.
Meanwhile, Khairy said adults aged 18 years old and above in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor who have not received their vaccine appointments can walk-in to vaccination centres to get their jabs.
This initiative, he said, will commence after the ongoing "Operation Surge Capacity" ends on Aug 1.
Khairy said a total of 432,843 doses have been administered in the last two days, including 293,100 individuals who have received their first jab.
As of yesterday, he said, 71.9 per cent of residents aged 18 years old and above in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Selangor have received at least one vaccine dose.
Operation Surge Capacity, which started on July 21, aims to inoculate the entire adult population in Klang Valley with at least one vaccine dose on or before Aug 1.