KUCHING: Sarawak has detected its first Covid-19 positive case involving the Delta variant (B. 1.617.2).
Institute of Health and Community Medicine (IHCM) of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) said a 56-year-old man from Kuching was detected with the variant on June 18.
IHMC director Prof Dr David Perera said it was an imported case, where the man had returned from another state.
"Apart from this variant, positive cases involving the Beta (B.1.351) and the Theta (P.3) variants had also been detected in Sarawak," he said in a statement today.
He said the detection was the result of the university's on-going tracking and surveillance of the SARS-COV-2 variants in the state.
He said a total of 59 cases involving Variants of Concern (VOC) and the Variants of Interest (VOI) had been detected in positive cases up to June 26.
The Delta variant was first detected in India, while the Beta variant was first detected in South Africa and the Theta in the Philippines.
Dr David said for Beta, there were 34 cases detected in Kuching, three in Bau and one each in Lundu, Serian, Simunjan and Sibu.
He said there were three other cases categorised as Import B (those returned from other states) under the same variant.
He said for the Theta variant, six cases had been detected in Kuching and seven in Kota Samarahan and one of the Eta (B.1.525), which was an import A case (those returning from other countries).