KUCHING, April 29: An individual returning from India was the sole overseas imported Covid-19 case confirmed among 416 new cases in Sarawak yesterday (April 28).
As per standard operating procedure (SOP) for entry into Sarawak, the case should have been placed under mandatory quarantine in a designated facility for 14 days.
State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), in its daily update report on the Covid-19 situation in Sarawak, also reported nine domestic imported cases who returned from states within Malaysia with one of them being symptomatic.
Meanwhile, the Sarawak government on Monday (April 26) banned the entry of travellers from India to prevent the spread of the new variant of the coronavirus, a variant of concern (VOC).
SDMC emphasised that the restriction which came into immediate effect also involved those who have travelled to India within the most recent 30 days.
India’s deadly Covid-19 second wave has devastated the country with bodies piling up as hospitals and crematoriums have run out of space, and funerals are taking place in car parks, according to global news reports.
The pandemic has not only devastated big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow and Pune but has now firmly gripped many smaller cities, towns and villages where the devastation is largely under-reported.
With oxygen supplies of hospitals near empty, doctors across India have sent SOS calls via social media for cylinders of oxygen to keep their patients alive.
India reported today a record rise in Covid-19 cases and deaths over the last 24 hours, with its overall caseload rising above 18 million.
With 379,257 new cases and 3,645 new deaths, India’s total number of cases and deaths now stand at 18.38 million and 204,832, respectively, according to India Health Ministry data.
The latest variant of the Covid-19, dubbed B.1.617, was first detected in India and then in other countries around the world.
While experts say it may be too early to say whether the new variant of virus is responsible for the rapid increase in infections, it is being treated as a possible cause as in many other cases and countries, new variants have played a role where the number of infections have jumped.
Some experts have expressed great concerns that the Indian variant may be turning into a type of “super mutation” that will continue to spread across the world.
Health authorities have detected the Indian variant in Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the United States, Australia and Singapore. — DayakDaily
