KUCHING: Those who have yet to get their COVID-19 booster shot have been advised to do so quickly as protection against the virus.
In making this call, Deputy Premier Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian said that this is because the BA.2 sub-lineage of the COVID-19 Omicron variant has now replaced the original BA.1 Omicron as the dominating circulating strain in Sarawak.
“The Universiti Malaysia Sarawak’s (UNIMAS) Institute of Health and Community Medicine (IHCM) also mentioned that according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the BA.2 sub-lineage is 30 per cent more infectious.
“Thus, the general public is strongly advised to be aware of the heightened risk of community transmission,” he said in his Telegram Channel on Sunday (Mar 13).
He also reminded the public to get their booster shot immediately if they have not done so.
On Mar 12, UNIMAS IHCM director Dr David Perera said that a total of 686 samples from COVID-19 positive cases had been successfully sequenced by the IHCM from Jan 11 to Feb 28 recently.
“The samples represented positive cases obtained state-wide and all were detected as the BA.1.1 529 Omicron Variant of Concern (VOC).
“From these, several sub-lineages comprising of 16 BA.1, 339 BA. 1.1 and 331 BA.2 were detected respectively.
“Fascinatingly, over the last week of Feb, the BA.2 sub-lineage represented over 90 per cent of all samples sequenced that week.
“This strongly suggests the BA.2 sub-lineage has now replaced the original BA.1 Omicron variant as the dominating circulating strain in Sarawak,” he said.
Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Health’s CovidNow website, a total population of 2,368,549 or 83.9 per cent in Sarawak has taken their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Mar 12.
Whereas, a total of 2,140,154 people or 75.8 per cent have completed both doses of the COVID-19 vaccines.
However, only 1,532,397 or 54.2 per cent have gotten their booster shots.
