KUCHING, Jan 15: Additional 36 Omicron variant cases have been detected in Kuching, Samarahan, Sibu and Kapit Divisions this month.
This was disclosed by Universiti Malaysia Sarawak’s (UNIMAS) Institute of Health and Community Medicine (IHCM) director Prof Dr David Perera in his report covering December 2021 to Jan 11, 2022 to Sarawak Disaster Management Committee chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas today.
In view of increasing Omicron cases in the local community in Sarawak, Dr Perera strongly urged the general public to be extremely cautious during coming Chinese New Year celebration in February.
“The public needs to strictly adhere to the health standard operating procedures (SOP).
“If possible, community gatherings must be avoided to prevent further community spread,” he said.
Dr Perera also advised those who have yet to get their booster shot to do so immediately.
He said studies had shown that a booster shot “is necessary to boost waning neutralising antibody levels to protect from an Omicron infection.”
Meanwhile, he said the IHCM, which is tracking the SARS-CoV-2 variants circulating in the State, had successfully sequenced 262 samples within its current report period.
“The Delta variant remained the dominant circulating variant in December 2021 with 212 cases detected and a further six cases detected in January 2022.
“However in late December, we detected eight cases of the Omicron variant of which seven were imported cases and one case with no history of recent travel.
“Then we had the other 36 cases as mentioned earlier,” said Dr Perera, who is also a member of the Sarawak Covid-18 Vaccine Advisory Group (SCoVAG). ― DayakDaily
