Covid-19: New daily record of 229 cases in Sarawak today with 2 more deaths

0

KUCHING (Jan 22): Sarawak’s new daily Covid-19 positive cases continue to climb to a record high of 229 cases today, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.

At the same time, he said, the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) also recorded two more Covid-19 related deaths today, bringing the total number of fatalities in the state so far to 24.

Sibu recorded the highest count with 168 cases, followed by Miri with 28, Kuching with nine, Kanowit with seven, Sri Aman with seven, Lubok Antu with seven, Subis with two and Bintulu with one case.

The total number of cases in the state now stands at 2,931 cases.

Today’s daily case count exceeded Wednesday’s record of 203 cases in the state.

Uggah, who is SDMC chairman, revealed that the 23rd death involved a local man aged 48 who was admitted to Miri Hospital on Jan 19 after experiencing breathing difficulties due to excessive fluids in his body due to a chronic kidney disease.

“His sample was taken on Jan 20 and he tested positive for the virus the next day. He was pronounced dead at 2.04am on Jan 21. He also had a history of diabetes, high blood and dyslipidemia,” he explained.

The 24th death involves a local 66-year-old man who also had a history of diabetes, high blood and asthma, said Uggah.

“He was admitted to Sibu Hospital on Jan 17 for experiencing difficulties breathing, and was intubated. He died at 3.11am on Jan 22.

“His sample was tested on Jan 17 and was found to be positive for Covid-19 on the same day. He was infected by the Pasai Cluster,” he said.

To date, eight clusters are still active, said Uggah. They are the Rakut Cluster with 33 cases, Bukit Sekubong Cluster with 26 cases, Jelita Cluster (40), Pasai Cluster (1,094), Keranji Tabuan Cluster (15), Bah Sayap Cluster (91), Stutong Cluster (40) and Mador Cluster (8).

On the bright side, he said, 141 cases have recovered from the disease and have been discharged from hospitals today, where 68 were from Sibu Hospital, 45 from Miri Hospital, 23 from Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) and five from Bintulu Hospital.

“So far 1,442 Covid-19 patients are still being treated in hospitals where 999 are in Sibu Hospital, 238 in Miri Hospital, 133 SGH, 71 Bintulu Hospital and one in Limbang Hospital,” he said.

Uggah said there were three cases in Sibu Hospital and one in SGH requiring ventilators or breathing apparatus, but all of them were in stable condition.

On another note, Uggah said Sarawak today recorded 293 new persons-under-investigation (PUI) cases where 57 were still waiting for their lab test results.

As for persons-under-surveillance (PUS) cases, he said 551 new cases were recorded today, making it a total of 6,181 being quarantined in hotels and other quarantine centres across Sarawak.