KUCHING: Sarawak on Tuesday recorded two new cases of Covid-19 detected in Kuching and Bintulu, with Kuching turning into a yellow zone due to one locally transmitted case.
This brings the total number of positive cases in the state to 703.
In a statement, State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) informed that the 702nd case is a local man who works at a construction site in Kuching District. The individual hails from Serian District but resides in Kuching.
The case was detected through Covid-19 screening while receiving treatment at a private hospital in Kuching on Sept 21.
He began to experience cough-like symptoms on Sept 18 and was referred by a private hospital to the Sarawak General Hospital on the same day for further treatment.
The case is categorised as a local transmission case, in view that he has no history of travelling overseas or to other states in Malaysia. The case is still under further investigation and contact tracing is being carried out by the Kuching Division Health Office and Serian Division Health Office.
The 703rd case is an imported case involving an Indonesian man who came to Sarawak to work in a shipping company in Bintulu.
He entered Malaysia via Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) from Jakarta, Indonesia on Sept 12. Upon arrival at KLIA2, the case underwent Covid-19 screening but tested negative.
He then continued on the flight from KLIA2 to Bintulu on the same day. Upon arrival at Bintulu Airport, the case was taken directly to the hotel quarantine centre in Bintulu to undergo mandatory quarantine for 14 days. He was also screened for Covid-19 using the rT-PCR test on Sept 13 and the result was also negative.
On Sept 21, he underwent a second screening test on the 10th day of his quarantine, and the results of this rT-PCR test result returned positive results for the virus.
He was admitted to Bintulu Hospital on the same day for further treatment and is currently asymptomatic.
It is categorised as an imported case as the man became infected while in his home country before entering Sarawak. Contact tracing is in full swing.
Meanwhile, SDMC also informed that the Alam Cluster in Bintulu remains active, even though all eight cases have recovered from the virus and were discharged.
There are no cases of recoveries and discharges for the day. To date, 680 or 96.73 per cent of the total number of cases have recovered from the virus.
“A total of four cases are still being treated at hospital’s isolation wards. They are currently receiving treatment at Sibu Hospital , Sungai Buloh Hospital in Selangor, SGH and Bintulu Hospital respectively. There is one case, which was reported in Sandakan, Sabah currently receiving treatment at Bintulu Hospital,” it said.
As for persons-under-investigation (PUIs), there were eight new ones, bringing the cumulative total of PUIs to 9,674 to date.
For persons-under-surveillance (PUS), there are 140 individuals who have checked into hotels for their compulsory quarantine today. This brings the total number of current PUS to 647 individuals at 11 hotels statewide.
To date, those who have completed their quarantine period number at 24,324.
With no deaths reported, the state’s death toll remains unchanged at 19 or 2.7 per cent of the total number of cases.