BINTULU, July 23: The highly contagious Delta variant has not been detected in Bintulu but even so, it is not time to let one’s guard down on vigilance against the Covid-19 as several districts have reportedly seen upticks in the daily number of new cases of late.
Bintulu Division health officer Dr Melvin Chung urged the people to continue complying with standard operating procedures (SOP) to maintain a low number of cases so as to protect Bintulu.
“According to State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) reports, no Delta variant has been detected in Bintulu yet but we hope everyone will continue to adhere to SOP and maintain the low number of cases until zero Covid-19 cases have been achieved,” he told Sarawak Public Communications Unit (Ukas) when inspecting the vaccination drive at Dinner World vaccination centre (PPV) yesterday.
Currently, the more transmissible and infectious Delta variant, which drove a surge in cases worldwide even in highly vaccinated countries, has emerged in Kuching, Sibu and Miri.
Bintulu has been doing very well in their Covid-19 preparedness and response to contain the situation with only two cases reported yesterday.
Meanwhile, volunteers with some attired in traditional costumes had surprised frontliners and vaccine recipients at the Dinner World PPV by singing Ibu Pertiwiku and Sarawakku Sayang songs as they held a small celebration to commemorate the Sarawak Day.
Ministry of Health (MOH) frontliners on duty also took the opportunity to express their pride in being Sarawakians and wished all a “Happy Sarawak Day, Sarawak Gemilang Untuk Semua (A glorious Sarawak for all)”.
“I am also a true-blue Anak Sarawak from Kuching. I really hope we can stay united together in fighting the Covid-19,” Dr Chung added.
Another officer from Bintulu Division Health Office Dr Linda Jok also reminded all Sarawakians to adhere to SOP wherever they may be.
“I wish all a Happy Sarawak Day but wherever you are, don’t take things easy yet and continue to strictly observe the SOP. Take care of our health and get vaccinated if you have not done so,” she advised.
On July 8, Sarawak reported the first Delta variant case in Kuching involving an imported case who is a 56-year-old man and tested positive on June 18 upon returning from other states.
It was detected as a result of an ongoing tracking and surveillance of SARS-COV-2 variants in the State conducted by University Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) Institute of Health and Community Medicine (IHCM) led by its director Prof Dr David Perera.
Thereafter on July 13, IHCM informed that 16 more Delta variant cases were identified, all in Kuching, in the study period as of July 4.
A week later on July 21, Dr Perera disclosed a shocking additional 76 Delta variant cases were found in Sarawak between June 7 and July 12, with 52 cases were in Kuching.
He revealed that the cases were identified among the samples taken from Sentosa Hospital, Satok Police Station and multiple other locations in Kuching.
Apart from Kuching, the Delta variant was also found in Serian which reported 11 cases, Samarahan (3 cases), Sri Aman (5 cases) and one case each in Sibu (involving an illegal immigrant from Indonesia), Miri and Betong.
With that, the cumulative number of cases linked to the Delta variant has risen to 69 in Kuching. — DayakDaily
