KUCHING, July 13: Sixteen more cases of the Covid-19 Delta variant (B.1 617.2) have been detected in Kuching as of July 4.
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas)’s Institute of Health and Community Medicine (IHCM) director Prof Dr David Perera disclosed this today in his latest report to State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
The IHCM has been tracking the SARS-COV-2 variants circulating in the State.
“As part of this ongoing surveillance, I would like to report that as of July 4, an additional 16 cases of the Delta variant were detected in Kuching.
“Besides the Delta variant, another one new case of the Beta variant (B.1.351) had also been detected in Kuching in the same period,” he said in a statement today.
With the latest additions, Dr Perera pointed out that Sarawak now has recorded 17 cases of the Delta variant, all detected in Kuching.
The first case which involved a 56-year-old man was reported to the State Disaster Management Committee on July 8.
Dr Perera also revealed that Sarawak now has 35 cases of the Beta variant reported in Kuching, three in Bau and one each in Lundu, Serian, Simunjan and Sibu.
“We had another three imported cases to make a total of 45 for this Beta variant,” he added.
On the Theta variant, he reported that there was no increases in the number of cases, thus maintaining the tally at 13 cases with six detected in Kuching and seven in Kota Samarahan as had been reported earlier on.
“It is the same for the Eta variant. There has been no increase. We had one case which was an Import A case.
“As such, a cumulative total of 76 Variants of Concern (VOC) and Variants of Interest (VOI) have been detected in Sarawak from positive Covid-19 cases up to July 4,” he said. — DayakDaily
