KUCHING: Sarawak recorded one new positive Covid-19 case today, bringing the total number of positive cases in the state to 580, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
He said the latest case was an imported case from Bintulu involving a 59-year-old Indonesian man who was a crew member on board LNG Jupiter ship traveling from Singapore to Sabah waters (LNG Sabah).
“LNG Jupiter, an oil tanker, signed on from the port of Himeji, Japan and began sailing on June 23 before anchoring in Singapore on July 3 with 30 crew members.
“The case began to experience diarrhoea and had fainting spells on July 3 while entering Singapore waters. On the same day, he also complained of fever, shortness of breath and headache,” he told a press conference at the state’s Covid-19 press conference today.
The State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman said the case was then treated by a medical officer of NYK LNG Shipmanagement (UK) Limited but no Covid-19 screening was performed then.
He added that however, the Indonesian had previously undergone the Covid-19 PCR swab test in Indonesia on June 16 and then on June 22, of which both tests came back negative at the time.
“Jupiter LNG started sailing again to Sabah waters on July 4 and on July 11, while near the waters of Bintulu, the case’s health condition worsened with shortness of breath.
“The ship’s captain sent a message for emergency assistance to the shipping agent at Bintulu Port and applied for permission to bring him for further treatment.
“He was then taken to Bintulu Medical Centre that night and was screened for Covid-19,” said Uggah.
He said preliminary screenings showed that his reactive RTK Antibody with IgG and IgM was positive Covid-19.
“He was then immediately referred and taken by the shipping agent to Bintulu Hospital for further treatment and categorised as a patient under investigation (PUI).
“While at the hospital, the case was unconscious and given respiratory assistance. Further laboratory tests for rT-PCR Covid-19 found that his nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab tests were positive for Covid-19 on July 12,” he added.
On the number of PUI, Uggah said 12 new cases were recorded today while two cases were still pending lab test results.
“Currently, 10 cases are still being treated at hospitals throughout the state,” he said, adding that there were also no Covid-19 patients who were discharged from hospitals today.
“The total number of recoveries remain at 552 which accounts for 95.17 per cent out of the overall cases.”
Since the first positive Covid-19 case was reported on March 13, the state has recorded a total of 18 deaths.