THE Health and Community Medicine Institute of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak has detected 780 Covid-19 cases involving the Delta variant in the state between the middle of last month and October 8, said the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee.

Chairman Douglas Uggah Embas said the institute’s lab in Kota Samarahan has been tasked to track Covid-19 variants in the state.

Institute director Dr David Perera, in his report to Uggah, said further analysis of the Delta variant found in the state revealed that the dominant sub-lineage is the AY.23.

The AY.23 is also driving the current outbreak in Singapore.

Perera said other Delta sub-lineages sporadically detected include the AY.24, AY.33, AY.34 and AY.37.

Kuching, Miri and Sibu each recorded one AY.24 case; Bintulu recorded one AY.33 case and two AY.34 cases; Samarahan recorded one AY.34 case; and, Kuching recorded two AY.37 cases, he added.

Perera told the deputy chief minister that the World Health Organisation has recently revised the SARS-CoV-2 – as Covid-19 is officially known – variant classification list “to reflect the current risk profile of these variants”.

All previously listed Variants of Interest and some Variants of Concern (VOCs) have now been reclassified as Variants Being Monitored. Only Delta remains on the VOC list.

Up until October 8, 1,782 Delta cases have been detected out of 3,000 Covid-19 cases in the state.

Kuching claimed the most number of Delta infections with 712 cases, followed by Bintulu (373), Samarahan (182), Sibu (167), Serian (127), Miri (88), Kapit (37), Mukah (22), Sarikei and Sri Aman (20 each), and Betong (19).

Limbang, located at the northern end of the state, claimed only one case. – October 30, 2021.