Covid-19: One new positive case recorded in S’wak today, total at 608

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Uggah speaking at the press conference. – Photo by Muhammad Rais Sanusi

KUCHING: Sarawak recorded one new positive Covid-19 case today, bringing the total number of positive cases in the state to 608, says Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.

He said the latest case from Kuching was an imported case involving a Sarawakian man working in Manila, Philippines.

“Case 608 had been in the Philippines since December 2019. He returned from Manila on July 17 where he was on transit at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) before entering Sarawak via Kuching International Airport (KIA) on the same day.

“The case, who is asymptomatic, was brought to a quarantine centre upon his arrival in Kuching,” he told a press conference at the state’s Covid-19 press conference today.

The Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman said the case underwent Covid-19 screening in the Philippines on July prior to his return to Sarawak and the results obtained on July 16 turned up negative.

“Upon his arrival at KLIA, he was not screened again as the test taking in the country of origin was negative on July 15, which was still within three days before arriving in Malaysia.

“He took the rT-PCR Covid-19 swab on July 18 and the test result turned up positive on July 19. He has since been admitted to Sarawak General Hospital (SGH),” he said, adding that contact tracing of the case is underway and investigation is ongoing.

On the number of person under investigation (PUI), Uggah said 20 new cases were recorded today while ten were still pending lab test results.

“There are currently 35 cases who are still being treated at the hospital’s isolation ward,” he said, noting that there were also no recovered Covid-19 patients today.

Since the first positive Covid-19 case was reported on March 13, the state has recorded a total of 18 deaths.