The Ibans are renowned for their Pua Kumbu (traditional Iban weavings), silver craft, wooden carvings and bead work. The Dayak Iban ceased practising headhunting in the 1930s. These suspended heads mark tribal victories and were a source of honour. ДЄn Iban longhouse may still display head trophies or antu pala. The Ibans dwell in longhouses, stilted structures with a large number of rooms housing a whole community of families. They crossed over the Kelingkang range and set up home in the river valleys of Batang Ai, the Skrang River, Saribas, and the Rajang River. The early Iban settlers migrated from Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo south of Sarawak, via the Kapuas River. Д«ecause of their history as farmers, pirates and fishermen, Ibans were conventionally referred to as the 'Sea Dayaks'. Formerly reputed to be the most formidable headhunters on the island of Borneo, the Ibans of today are a generous, hospitable and placid people. Iban is native to Sarawak and Borneo has the highest number of Ibans in worlds. The Ibans comprise the largest percentage (more than 40%) of Sarawak's population. The family adds to the corset dress as the girl ages and based on her family's wealth. The WHO will then change its name to a Greek letter.ДЎ.Sea Dayaks (Iban) women from Rejang, Sarawak, wearing rattan corsets decorated with brass rings and filigree adornments. If a subvariant (or variant) has features that distinguishes itself enough from other subvariants that make it better at reproducing, becoming transmissible or increasing its severity, then the World Health Organisation (WHO) might determine it to be a 'variant of concern'. As an example, BA.1, BA.2, BA.3, BA.4 and BA.5 are the first five branches of the original Omicron ancestor.Д«A.2.12.1 is the twelfth lineage to branch off from BA.2, and the first-named branch of that 'bush'. The numbers in the label indicate the order of branches from that lineage. These lineages so far would represent a subvariant of the dominant variant (in this case Omicron) and are labelled following in a sequence from A to Z, then from AA to AZ, BA to BZ, and so on. If they can be traced to a common recent ancestor, then they represent a distinct lineage of the virus. These samples are then studied to see how they fit on the SARS-CoV-2 family tree. Some new strains do gain traction and researchers conducting genomic surveillance flag samples that all have the same set of distinct mutations.

So technically, this means millions of variants probably arise every day, but the vast majority of these mutations don't improve the virus' ability to survive and reproduce so they are eventually out-competed by more resilient versions. SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind Covid-19, replicates rapidly and each time it does it acquires mutations. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has flagged BA.2.12.1 and BA.5 as highly infectious with faster transmission rates than the parent Omicron variant.Д«ut how are these subvariants named and why aren't they given their own greek letter? 'Subsequently, an additional case of BA 2.12.1 and three cases of BA.5 were detected in Kuching in the second and third weeks of June,' he said in a statement on Thursday (June 23). Universiti Malaysia Sarawak's Institute of Health and Community Medicine (IHCM) director Prof Dr David Perera said the first incidences of the BA.2.12.1 and BA.5 sub-variants were detected from a case in Kuching and Sibu respectively in the last week of May. The Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 was first detected in North America and accounts for 26% of samples sequenced there whereas BA.5 and its close sibling BA.4 are spreading rapidly in South Africa, comprising more than 90% of genomes sequenced there. These two subvariants are not entirely new as they have surfaced elsewhere, but they are new to Malaysia as they had not been detected here before. What was actually detected in Sarawak were two Covid-19 Omicron subvariants, namely BA.2.12.1 and BA.5.

THERE IS talk that a new and highly infectious Covid-19 variant has been discovered in Sarawak.

Sarawak people