Most of Penang’s Covid-19 cases are Omicron, not Delta: expert

GEORGE TOWN – Despite Penang’s Covid-19 analysis showing that the majority of cases reported are still of the Delta variant, Penang Medical Practitioners’ Society president Datuk Dr Tan Kah Keong said that the prominent strain in the state now is Omicron.

Though the data provided by the Health Ministry shows that Delta cases are a few times more numerous than Omicron, he said that those are cumulative cases and not cases reported in February or even January of this year.

“This is when the data is confusing, and people may interpret it as what they see, which is very high Delta cases compared to Omicron.

“The Delta strain takes time to verify as the samples need to go to the virologists where they conduct the genome study.

“Omicron is not just the dominant strain in Penang but everywhere as well,” he told The Vibes.

The latest Covid-19 variant information released for Penang was until February 11. It shows that there were 10 Beta cases, 544 Delta cases and only 37 Omicron cases.

With thousands testing positive for Covid-19 daily, Tan says that there are many more that are still undetected because many rely on self-test kits for results. If they test positive, they just quarantine themselves until they are negative.

He said doing this is ignorant and selfish.

However, he admitted that this human behaviour cannot be changed, adding that is why vaccinations are crucial.

“There are two reasons why those who test positive should declare they have Covid-19 to the Health Ministry. The first is so the government can get accurate statistics. These statistics will help the hospitals better allocate resources to treat patients and identify if there are areas that have reported more cases.

“Secondly, when you don’t report, nobody is monitoring you. You may think you don’t have symptoms but what if suddenly there is a problem and you enter Stage 3 or Stage 4, then you suddenly appear at the hospital,” he said.

There was a drop of Covid-19 cases from 2,435 on Saturday to 1,548 yesterday. Of the total, seven are currently ventilated in intensive care units and another 10 unventilated. 15,129 others are currently conducting home quarantine. – The Vibes, February 28, 2022