KUCHING: People have been advised to be on guard for the increased risk of community transmission of the new Omicron variant, the BA.2.
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak’s (UNIMAS) Institute of Health and Community Medicine (IHCM) director Dr David Perera said the BA.2 sub-lineage has now replaced the original BA.1 Omicron as the dominating circulating strain in the state.
“The World Health Organisation has previously indicated that this BA.2 sub lineage is 30 per cent more infectious than the already infectious original BA.1 Omicron Variant of Concern (VOC).
“A total of 686 samples from Covid-19 positive cases had been successfully sequenced by the IHCM from January 11 to February 28 recently,” he said.
Perera said the samples represented positive cases obtained state -wide and all were detected as the BA.1.1 529 Omicron VOC.
The UNIMAS professor disclosed this in his latest report to the chairman of the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah on Saturday (March 12).
“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 February, 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.
“In the light of this, the public are strongly advised to be aware of the heightened risk of community transmission.
“They should get their booster shot immediately if they have not done so,” he added.
