KUCHING, April 15: The South African variant of the Covid-19 coronavirus has not been detected in Sarawak so far, assured Sarawak Health director Dr Chin Zin Hing.
According to Dr Chin, based on the genome analysis conducted by the director of Institute of Health and Community Medicine (IHCM), Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) Prof Dr David Perera, they have found only three variants of the Covid-19 virus.
“So far we don’t have any South African variant, and we want to reassure, our vaccine is still effective against the three variants,” he said during the daily Covid-19 update at a press conference held at the former State Legislative Assembly (DUN) building in Petra Jaya, here today.
At the same time, Dr Chin advised those who have completed their vaccination to continue observing standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Dr Chin pointed out that those vaccinated are not 100 per cent protected and they can still get infected and also infect others.
“Everybody, vaccinated or not, must wear a mask, maintain physical distancing and practise hand hygiene. We try to achieve 70 to 80 per cent of the vaccination rate before we can take off the face mask,” he added. — DayakDaily
