Covid-19: 7 new positive cases detected in Sarawak today, new cluster emerges at Stutong Market

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File photo for illustration purposes

KUCHING: Sarawak has recorded seven new Covid-19 positive cases with a new cluster identified, bringing the total number of positive cases in the state to 601.

Out of the seven, five are local transmissions while two are imported cases, according to a statement from the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC).

Two positive cases were detected at Stutong Market following an initial screening of 56 traders and have been classified as local transmissions.

They did not show any symptoms and have no history of traveling abroad. As a result, this has become a new cluster known as Stutong Market Cluster.

The State Health Department will conduct follow-up screening on all traders at Stutong Market, estimated to be a total of 200 individuals. Contact tracing is currently being carried out, and the market has temporarily been closed.

One of the new positive cases today involves a close contact to one of the positive cases in the Mambong Cluster. The case was detected as a result of screening the cluster’s contacts and family members, and the individual is currently asymptomatic.

With this new case, there are a total of five infected individuals in the Mambong Cluster.

The fourth local transmission case is a non-citizen woman who underwent Covid-19 screening at Batu Kawah Health Clinic for the purpose of making a trip back to her home country. The rT-PCR test on July 17 found her positive. She is asymptomatic and has no history of traveling abroad before 2019.

The fifth case of local transmission involves a local senior citizen from Sri Aman who resides in Kuching.

The individual was instructed to undergo a bronchoscopy examination at Bau Hospital on July 17 and a rT-PCR swab test was performed before the health examination, which came back positive on the same day. The source of the infection is currently under investigation.

As for the imported cases, one is a Malaysian citizen who returned from Singapore on July 12 and was in Kuching for a one-night transit.

Upon arrival at Kuching International Airport, the individual was taken to the designated hotel quarantine centre before continuing on to Bintulu the next day. A health screening carried out on the second day returned positive results for Covid-19.

The second imported case involves a Malaysian who returned from Indonesia on July 5 via KLIA and arrived at Kuching on July 6.

Upon arrival at Kuching International Airport, the individual was directly brought to a hotel for the mandatory 14-day quarantine. The second day Covid-19 test was negative, but a test carried out on the 10th day returned positive results for the virus.

SDMC reported that there are no currently no cases of recoveries or discharges.

To date, 554 or 92.18 per cent of total cases have recovered from the disease and have been discharged while 29 are still undergoing treatment at isolation wards.

“Today there are 18 new persons-under-investigation (PUIs), and three are still awaiting their laboratory results,” the statement read.

The cumulative total of PUIs is 8,761 to-date.

On person-under-surveillance (PUS), there are 52 individuals who have checked into hotels for their compulsory quarantine Saturday. This brings the total of current PUS to 426 individuals at eight hotels statewide.

To date, those who have completed their quarantine period numbered at 18,858.

With no deaths reported, the death toll remains at 18 or three per cent of the total cases in the state.