Confirmed by the province’s Health Agency Chief, the highly transmissible COVID-19 Delta variant has finally been detected in Bali.
With the emergence of the mutation heavily linked to the dramatic surge of coronavirus cases in Indonesia, Suarjaya said the Delta variant in Bali was detected in 20-year-old and 50-year-old male patients, as well as a 48-year-old female patient.
“We detected it on Wednesday afternoon, there are three people that infected with the Delta variant. COVID-19 cases have been rising sharply in Bali. One indication is that it’s due to the Delta variant,” Suarjaya said.
But on the ground, it is likely that more cases have been caused by the Delta variants, considering that Bali only sends a number of samples periodically to be examined to the Health Ministry’s Research and Development Agency (Litbang).
The variant was detected much earlier elsewhere in Indonesia, including in Jakarta, where officials estimated earlier this month that 90 percent of COVID-19 patients were infected with the mutated virus.
Bali has been reporting record-breaking daily new infections, including yesterday’s 843 new cases, the highest number yet throughout the pandemic.
