KUCHING (Aug 21): Sarawak recorded one new positive Covid-19 case today, bringing the total number of positive cases in the state to 687 and changing Kuching district from a green zone to yellow.
In a statement, the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) informed that the case was a local transmission involving a 26-year-old Indian national working as a fisherman for a fishing vessel company in Kuching.
“The individual has undergone rT-PCR swab screening for Covid-19 for purpose of returning to his country of origin at a private hospital in Kuching on August 20.
“Laboratory test results found his nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs to be positive for Covid-19 on the same day. He has no symptoms,” it said.
The individual is now under treatment at Sarawak General Hospital, and contact tracing is being done.
This case is classified as local transmission as the patient did not have any history of traveling abroad since arriving in Malaysia in July 2019.
SDMC said that currently, the state has seven active clusters involving 59 cases. They are the Engineering Firm Cluster with eight cases, Mambong Cluster (7), Sentosa Cluster (31), Melbourne PUI Cluster (3), Kuching Construction Company Cluster (2), Satok Market Cluster (4), and Alam Cluster in Bintulu (4).
The committee added that there were also no cases of recovery and discharge. To date, 661 or 96.22 per cent of total cases have recovered and discharged.
“Seven cases still being treated at hospital isolation wards.
“As for today, there are 17 new Person-Under-Investigation (PUIs) reported, and 14 are still waiting for laboratory results,” it said.
The cumulative total of PUIs is 9,344 to-date.
On Person-Under-Surveillance (PUS), there are 52 individuals who have checked into hotels for their compulsory quarantine Friday. This brings the total of current PUS to 692 individuals at 14 hotels statewide.
To-date, those who have completed their quarantine period numbered at 22,004.
With no deaths reported, death toll remains at 19 or 2.77 per cent of total cases.