KUCHING: Sarawak recorded two news positive Covid-19 cases, including one identified as part of a new cluster.
A statement from the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) revealed that the 578th case involved a local 44-year-old woman who went for a check-up at Borneo Medical Centre (BMC) on July 11.
“Further Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (rT-PCR) test for Covid-19 revealed on July 12 that she was positive for the virus although she showed no symptoms of the disease,” SDMC said.
The woman was then referred to the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) isolation ward and the authorities are actively tracing her close contacts as well as investigating the source of transmission.
The 579th case is a close contact of the 575th case, a male colleague of the woman from the engineering consultant firm here, who was announced to be positive for the virus on July 10.
He was screened at the BMC on July 11 with rT-PCR swab testing and was found to be positive for the virus the same day.
He was asymptomatic, and was immediately referred to the SGH for isolation and treatment.
This 579th case has created a new ‘Engineering Firm Cluster’ which involves two positive cases, said SDMC.
As such, the State Health Department is actively identifying all close contacts and conducting contact tracing for Covid-19 screening to be done.
According to SDMC, this cluster was first detected on July 7 through the 575th case. The woman had a dry cough symptom since June 27 but only sought treatment on July 7 after complaining of shortness of breath and chest pain.
She works as a draughtswoman at the engineering firm.
So far, 15 of her close contacts have been identified, where one of them is the 579th case.
Close contact tracing is still ongoing involving all staff at the engineering form as well as her family members.
The Covid-19 death toll for the state is at 18 after the latest fatality yesterday.
A total of nine active cases are still being treated at hospitals, where seven are at SGH, one Sibu Hospital and one Bintulu Hospital.
While there are no recovery or discharged cases today, 45 persons-under-investigation (PUI) cases were recorded today with five still waiting for lab test results.
A total of 34 new persons-under-surveillance (PUS) cases were also registered today, making a total of 435 being quarantined at 11 hotels around the state.
In Kuching there are 278 PUS cases, Miri 76, Bintulu 21, Limbang 29 and Sibu 31.
Meanwhile, SDMC is urging those who believed that they have been in close contact with the positive cases to voluntarily go for screening at one of the five designated government health clinics here.
They are Klinik Kesihatan Jalan Masjid, Klinik Kesihatan Tanah Puteh, Klinik Kesihatan Kota Sentosa and Klinik Kesihatan Batu Kawa opening Mondays to Fridays 8am to 1pm, and Klinik Kesihatan Petra Jaya opening Mondays to Saturdays from 8am to 1pm.
For further inquiries, SDMC can be reached via telephone numbers 082-443991, 082-513340, 082-649813, 082-536512 and 082-646634.