KUCHING, Sept 13 — Covid-19 RT-PCR and RTK-Antigen test results are no longer required for interdistrict travel across Sarawak with the exception of Bintulu, said the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC).
The committee said in its Covid-19 daily update that this latest decision comes into effect from tomorrow.
“However, a police permit is still mandatory for those who wish to travel interdistrict,” it said.
The committee’s decision comes following the whole genomic sequencing report on Covid-19 positive samples and screening results from 12 divisions in Sarawak by Universiti Malaysia Sarawak’s (Unimas) Institute of Health and Community Medicine (IHCM) director Prof Dr David Perera, which found that almost 100 per cent of the samples taken were from the Delta variant.
“This means that the Delta variant has spread throughout the state,” SDMC said.
In his report to SDMC chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah earlier today, Dr Perera revealed that as of August 31, a total of 303 additional Variants of Concern (VOCs) were detected from 307 positive cases sequenced by IHCM.
“All VOCs detected were of the Delta (B.1.617.2) variant. The overall Delta variant detection rate of 99 per cent observed in this report represents an increase from the 82 per cent reported recently by IHCM on August 2,” he said.
He said this situation had occurred in Kuching, Serian, Samarahan, Sri Aman, Betong, Sarikei, Mukah, Miri, and Limbang divisions, while Import A cases (from overseas) had a 100 per cent detection rate.
Sibu and Kapit divisions on the other hand registered a 97 per cent detection rate for the variant, while Bintulu Division had a 98 per cent detection rate.
Meanwhile, SDMC said the latest information on the daily Covid-19 situation in Sarawak and Malaysia can be accessed via https://covidnow.moh.gov.my/swk (Sarawak) and https://covidnow.moh.gov.my (Malaysia). — Borneo Post Online
