KUALA LUMPUR – A research consortium has identified another 384 Covid-19 cases involving the Delta variant and eight of Beta between September 25 and October 6.
In a statement, Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said cumulatively, Malaysia has 2,252 infections classified as variant of concern (VOC) and variant under monitoring (VUM), of which 20 are considered variant of interest (VOI).
“Overall, we have 1,996 Delta cases, 222 Beta and 14 Alpha.”
Between September 25 and October 6, Selangor tops the Delta list with 109 cases, followed by Penang (46), Kuala Lumpur (42), Negri Sembilan (34), Pahang (33), Melaka (31), Johor (28), Sabah (21), Terengganu (16), Kelantan (12), Perak (7), Putrajaya and Labuan (2 each), and Kedah (1).
In the same period, Selangor and Sabah each saw three Beta cases, while Negri Sembilan and Kelantan recorded one each.
Cumulatively, Sarawak tops the Delta list with a caseload of 998 (1 imported), followed by Selangor (276 – 3 imported), Penang (101 – 1 imported), Johor (98 – 1 imported), Pahang (88), Kuala Lumpur (85 – 7 imported), Sabah (73), Negri Sembilan (59), Melaka (56), Kedah (44), Terengganu (34), Kelantan (26), Perak (21), Labuan and Perlis (12 each), and Putrajaya (9).
According to the Health Ministry, a continuous research on coronavirus variants is being carried out by the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Molecular Biology Institute, Universiti Malaya’s Faculty of Medicine, UiTM’s Integrative Pharmacogenomics Institute, UM’s Tropical Infectious Diseases Research & Education Centre, Malaysia Genome Institute, and Institute for Medical Research.
As of September 30, the World Health Organisation had categorised Lambda (C.37) and Mu (B.1.621) as VOIs, while Theta, Kappa and Eta are VUMs. – The Vibes, October 7, 2021
