Covid-19: New Mambong Cluster detected in Sarawak from previous cases, one new positive case today

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KUCHING: Sarawak now has one new Covid-19 cluster in Mambong after two previous positive cases were confirmed to have originated from the area, the Ministry of Health (MoH) announced today.

Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said the new cluster was confirmed by MoH today, involving two previous positive cases who had close contact with 131 people.

“The close contacts of the previous two positive cases in Mambong involve 86 of their co-workers, 22 family members and 23 casual contacts,” he said during the daily Covid-19 press conference at the old State Assembly Building today.

Meanwhile, Sarawak also recorded one new Covid-19 positive case today, bringing the total cumulative positive cases to 584 in the state.

Case 584 involved a non-Malaysian male, who works as a fisherman at one of the fishing companies in the city.

“The worker went for a health screening and also an rT-PCR swab test for Covid-19 at a private hospital in Kuching on July 15. The laboratory test results for nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs came back positive for Covid-19 on the same day.

“The patient has been admitted to the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) for treatment. He shows no signs and symptoms,” he told the daily update conference today.

Uggah said the case has been classified as a local transmission case since the individual had no history of travel or returning from outside Malaysia.

He said records showed that the case last returned to his country of origin in 2016.

“Close contact tracing involves his local co-workers is still ongoing,” he added.

“A total of 68 samples have been taken whereas the remaining 63 samples will be taken in the next one or two days,” he told the daily update press conference here today.

On the Engineering Firm Cluster which reported two positive cases before this, Uggah said contact tracing carried out so far involved 187 individuals including 130 co-workers, 33 family members and 24 others.

“All the results of the 187 samples taken came back negative.”

Touching on the most recent fatality case that involved an elderly man in Kuching, Uggah said that random contact tracing had been done at several locations which the deceased had visited.

“Today, a total of 217 initial screenings were done at the Stutong Community Market. Of the total, two individuals showed symptoms whereas 56 samples were taken.

“Tomorrow, screening will be done at the Green Road fresh market,” he said, adding that similar screenings will also be done at other major markets in the coming two weeks.

Uggah clarified that the 18 individuals reported in Miri today were not persons-under-investigation (PUI) cases but patients of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) and Influenza Like Illness (ILI).

He said Kuching and Bintulu also recorded these SARI and ILI cases, but these divisions did not classify them as PUI cases.

“We have also 11 in SGH (Sarawak General Hospital) and seven in Bintulu Hospital, but we don’t classify them as PUI, just patients. We advise Miri (Hospital) to follow Kuching in terms of the definition of PUI to dispel fears in Miri,” he added.

Uggah said it was the practice of the hospital to test these cases against Covid-19 given that they belong to high-risk groups.

He said getting these individuals tested was a precaution to determine whether they had contracted Covid-19.

He also advised the private sector to refer to SDMC before making any statements in public with regards to the Covid-19 situation in the state.

“If the facts are not verified, the news will be based on rumours. It can indeed lead to a lot of confusion or panic among the public,” he added.