By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, Aug 9: The Delta variant of Covid-19 has emerged as the predominant Covid-19 strain in southern Sarawak, says Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) advisor Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian.
He noted that due to the efforts by Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas)’ Institute of Health and Community Medicine (IHCM) director Prof Dr David Perera and team to conduct genomics study of the coronavirus strains, the location of the Delta variant was identified.
Dr Sim, who is also Minister for Local Government and Housing, said the Delta variant was responsible for the surge of Covid-19 cases in Sarawak.
He pointed out that the Delta variant has a viral load thousand times higher than older strains and spread two to three times faster than the original virus.
Dr Sim added the variant can transmit within 15 seconds of close contacts versus 15 minutes of close contacts in the original virus and can spread by aerosol farther than one metre distance.
Hence, he said it is inevitable that Sarawak like the rest of the world will need to live with Covid-19 variants.
Dr Sim also reminded the people to stay vigilant and practice the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the prevention of coronavirus such as restrict non essential movement, reduce social gathering and wear face mask at all times in public places. — DayakDaily
