MIRI – Sarawakians have been warned to expect the emergence of the Lambda variant, another mutation of the Covid-19 virus, which is said to be more potent than the Delta variant.
State Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian, said the discoveries of more Delta variant cases as well as new variants is becoming a trend in Sarawak.
“Be it more Delta variants or emerging variants such as Lambda that will probably land on our shores, Sarawak like the rest of the world, will have to live with the virus and not live like normal as before Covid-19 that we are all so longing for.
“As we continue to hasten our vaccination efforts, Sarawakians cannot let our guard down or else the sheer number of infections and deaths caused by the new variants will overwhelm us,” he warned in his social media chat groups, today.
Dr Sim, who is advisor to the state Disaster Management Committee, said this a day after Universiti Malaysia Sarawak’s (Unimas) public health and community medicine research team uncovered another 180 new Delta cases in Sarawak plus seven cases of a new variant of concern (VOC).
Yesterday, Unimas research head Dr David Perera announced that more Delta cases were found in Kuching, Samarahan, Lundu, Bau, Serian, Miri and Bintulu, with Kuching having the most number of cases.
Dr Perera also said seven cases of a new strain has been found in Sarawak, with Unimas has tentatively dubbed it as the Indonesian VOC.
The Lambda variant, first detected in Peru, is said to be even more potent than the Delta variant which is raging in Sarawak.
Health authorities in Peru and other South American countries said the Lambda variant has shown the ability to even resist current vaccines used against Covid-19.
“Each one of us will have to live with the new norm, irrespective of which phase of the National Recovery Plan we are in, whether we live in the red zone or not, or how many doses of vaccination we already have.
“While we are quite pleased about our vaccination rates, our hospitals and ICU (intensive care unit) beds will be overwhelmed by the sheer number of positive cases from the new variants.
“Sarawak will see the same extreme critical situation like Kuala Lumpur and Selangor with a high death rate including BID (brought in dead) cases.
“Everyday, we are also losing fellow Sarawakians to Covid-19 in West Malaysia,” he added.
Dr Sim said Dr Perera and his team are doing very well by aiding the state through their genomics study on the Covid-19 strains.
In the past two months, the Unimas team has already announced close to 500 cases involving Covid-19 variants in Sarawak including Delta, Beta, Eta, Theta variants and now the Indonesian VOC. – The Vibes, August 4, 2021
