Photo of test tube and the Covid-19 virus for illustration purposes only.
KUCHING (July 23): Sarawak has recorded 93 Covid-19 Delta variant cases as of midnight of July 22 — the highest in the country, said the Ministry of Health (MoH).
In a Facebook post today, MoH said 92 of the Delta variant cases in Sarawak were local transmissions.
Ten of the Delta variant cases reported in the state were from the Sentosa 2 Cluster, while other clusters where the variant has been detected include Tembok Sri Aman 2 (5), Pagar Serian (4), Jalan Jambusan (4), Salak Land (3), Sungai Bedil Besar (2), and Duyoh (1).
MoH chart shows the VOC and VOI cases detected in Malaysia.
Altogether, Malaysia recorded 189 Delta variant cases, with the rest recorded in Pahang (18), Selangor (15), Kuala Lumpur, Labuan (10 each), Johor (8), Negeri Sembilan (7), Melaka (5), Kedah (4), Sabah (3), Perlis (2), Putrajaya (2), Terengganu (1), and Perak (1).
The MoH also revealed that ongoing studies by the Institute of Medical Research (IMR) and the Institution of Community Health and Medicine (IHCM) Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) have identified a total of 119 cases of new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
It said all 119 cases were Variant of Concern (VOC) — 106 Delta variant cases (B.1.617.2); 10 cases of Beta variants (B.1.351); and three Alpha variant cases (B.1.1.7).
“This brings the cumulative number of cases infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus categorised as VOCs and VOIs to 429 cases.
“Of the total detected, 409 cases were VOC, while 20 cases were Variant of Interest (VOI),” said the ministry.
In total, to date, the VOC in Malaysia are 206 cases of Beta variant, 189 cases of Delta variant, and 14 cases of Alpha variant; while for VOI there are 13 cases of Theta variant, four cases of Kappa variant, and three cases of Eta variant.
In Sarawak, a total of 149 VOC and VOI cases have been identified, with the others being 45 Beta variant cases, 13 Theta variant cases, and one Eta variant case.