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Sharp increase of Delta variant in Sarawak

KUCHING: There has been a sharp increase in Covid-19 cases linked to the Delta variant cases detected in Sarawak, especially in the Kuching division.

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) Institute of Health and Community Medicine (IHCM) director Dr David Perera said another 249 cases linked to Delta variant were detected from 338 Covid-19 positive cases sequenced recently.

"As of Aug 10, we have sequenced 338 samples received throughout Sarawak, where 73 per cent are linked to the Delta variant. This is a sharp increase compared to the 50 per cent detection rate reported on August 3," he said.

"Besides, 90 per cent of the cases from the Kuching division sequenced in this testing round were linked to the Delta variant. This suggests a widespread high prevalence of the Delta variant in the Kuching division community," he explained.

Dr Perera said the variant also continues to be detected in Bau, Lundu, Kota Samarahan, Simunjan, Miri and Bintulu as well as six cases in Sibu.

He said it was difficult to predict when the Covid-19 cases in Sarawak, especially in Kuching will drop as for fully vaccinated individuals, they would be protected from severe illness but the worry is they become carriers that transmit to adolescents who do not yet receive the vaccine.

"Hence, we need to make the point to quickly vaccinate our children aged between 12 and 17 before schools reopen," he added.

"There was one case of the recently described Indonesian Variant of Interest (VOI) (B.1.466 2) which was detected in Bintulu."

Dr David said the detection resulted from the university's ongoing tracking and surveillance of the SARS-CoV-2 variants in the state.

He said a total of 592 cases involving Variants of Concern (VOC) and the Variants of Interest (VOI) had been detected in positive cases up to Aug 10.

Two days ago, Sarawak reported 1,566 cases of Covid-19, the highest daily figure since the first case was detected in the state in March last year, including 734 new cases detected in Kuching.

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