KUCHING: Sarawak has detected a sharp increase in Covid-19 Delta variant cases this month, says the Institute of Health and Community Medicine (IHCM) of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak.

       IHCM director Prof Dr David Perera said an additional 248 Delta cases were detected from 338 Covid-19 positive cases sequenced by the institute as of Aug 10.

       He said this represented an overall detection rate of over 73%, a "sharp increase" from 50% reported on Aug 3.

       "There was one case of the recently described Indonesian variant of interest (B.1.466 2) which was detected in Bintulu," he said in a statement Wednesday (Aug 18).

       Prof Perera also said the detection rate for the Delta variant was about 90% in Kuching division, which comprises the Kuching, Bau and Lundu districts.

       "This variant also continues to be detected in Bau, Lundu, Kota Samarahan, Simunjan, Miri and Bintulu," he said.

       IHCM is helping the state disaster management committee track the Covid-19 virus variants circulating in the state.

       As of Aug 10, 592 cases of variants of concern and interest have been detected in the state.

       Of the total, 521 are of the Delta variant, 47 Beta, 13 Theta, 10 of the Indonesian variant and one Eta.