KUCHING: Sarawak has recorded three new Covid-19 positive cases today, bringing the number of cumulative positive cases to 552, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
He said two of the cases are from Kuching while one was from Kota Samarahan.
This has downgraded Kota Samarahan from a green zone to a yellow zone today, he added. Meanwhile, Sibu is now designated as a green zone after it recorded no new positive cases in the past two weeks.
Uggah said the three cases were detected during the contact tracing operation in Kuching and Kota Samarahan.
He said the Samarahan case was a student from Kolej I-System in Tanjung Manis who had close contact with a schoolmate who tested positive before.
All 25 close contacts of the Samarahan case have been tested with 11 returning negative results while 14 others are still awaiting their lab test results.
Uggah said the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) had come up with a directive where all students from local higher learning institutions who have returned to their homes and have yet to be screened would need to report themselves to the nearest Resident or District Office to be screened and tested.
“After the Kota Samarahan case where the student from Kolej I-System was positive, all students, from private or public institutions, are now required to undergo screening,” he said.
As for the other two cases from Kuching, all 25 of the cases’ close contacts have been tested and returned negative results, he added.
“Although Kota Samarahan is now yellow, Sibu is now green. So the number of yellow zone districts in Sarawak still remain at five, and green 35,” he said.
Uggah also revealed that three cases have recovered from the disease and have been discharged from the hospitals today.
“Two are from Bintulu Hospital and one from Sibu Hospital, making the total number of recovered cases to date 476 or 86.23 per cent,” he said.
Uggah also said that 219 new persons-under-investigation (PUI) cases have been recorded today, where 187 are still awaiting their lab test results.
He also reported 57 new persons-under-surveillance (PUS) cases have been recorded today, with a total of 797 PUS cases being quarantined in 38 hotels across the state.
In Kuching there are 246 PUS cases, in Miri 239, Bintulu 220, Limbang 55 and Sibu 37.
“To date a total of 11,783 PUS cases have completed their quarantine and returned home,” said Uggah.