A medical worker conducts Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction tests. — Bernama photo
KUCHING (Sept 15): The sharp increase of Sarawak’s Covid-19 cases today to 4,709 from yesterday’s 1,983 was due to cumulative backlog of tests from Sept 10 to 14, said the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC).
The committee in its daily Covid-19 update added that latest figure was an increase of 2,726 cases from yesterday’s cases, making the cumulative number of cases in the state now at 167,012.
It said 99.85 per cent or 4,702 of of today’s cases were in Categories 1 and 2 involving asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients.
Of the cases recorded today, there were also seven cases which consisted of one Category 3, one Category 4, and five Category 5 cases, said SDMC.
Category three refers to cases with pneumonia but not requiring oxygen while categories four and five are patients with pneumonia requiring oxygen and requiring ventilator support respectively.
A total of 35 districts had registered new cases of which Kuching continued to top the list at 1,866 cases.
This is followed by Samarahan with 417 cases, Bintulu (369), Sibu (347), Serian (289), Simunjan (227), Bau (192), Asajaya (129), Miri (117), Betong (108), Mukah (72), Pakan (67), Saratok (63), Pusa (61), Sarikei (53), Sri Aman (49), Kapit (48), Subis (46), Tebedu (41), Limbang (30), Selangau (20), Lawas (17), Belaga (13), Lubok Antu (11), Tatau (10), Sebauh (10), Dalat (10), Beluru (6), Meradong (4), Kanowit (4), Julau (4), Matu (3), Lundu (2), Telang Usan (2), and Bukit Mabong (2).
SDMC said Sarawak also recorded 12 more deaths from Covid-19 today, bringing its death toll to 651.
It said seven of the fatalities were brought-in-dead (BID) cases, including one involving a centenarian from Lubok Antu.
The 100-year-old man, who tested positive on Sept 13, was brought in dead into the Sri Aman Hospital and had no known medical history.
In addition to this case, Sri Aman Hospital also received three more BID cases, involving victims in their 80s.
One of them was an 86-year-old woman from Lubok Antu with a history of hypertension and diabetes and had tested positive on Sept 13.
The two other victims involved an 80-year-old man from Lubok Antu and an 85-year-old woman from Sri Aman.
The man, who had a history of stroke, was tested positive on Sept 12 while the woman, who tested positive on Sept 13, had hypertension.
Another BID case involved a 35-year-old woman from Bintulu with no known medical history.
She was tested positive on Sept 12, and her body was brought to Bintulu Hospital, said SDMC.
On the two remaining BID cases, the committee said both victims’ were brought to the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH), both from Kuching
One of them was a 57-year-old man who was tested positive on Sept 13 and had no known medical history.
The other was an 84-year-old man who had a history of hypertension, dyslipidemia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He tested positive on Sept 13 as well, SDMC added.
The committee said the five other death cases were registered in Sibu, Kapit, Bintulu, Saratok and Miri respectively.
The death in Sibu involved a 93-year-old man with a history of hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia, who tested positive on Sept 6, while at Kapit Hospital, the victim was an 81-year-old man from Song who tested positive on Sept 9 who had a history of hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and chronic kidney disease.
In Bintulu, the victim was a 47-year-old woman with a history of hypertension, diabetes, and end-stage chronic kidney disease. She was tested positive on Sept 10.
For the death in Saratok, SDMC said the victim was an 84-year-old woman from Betong who was tested positive on Sept 11, and had a history of hypertension and chronic kidney disease.
In Miri, the victim was a 59-year-old woman with a history of hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia, and was tested positive on Sept 14.