Samples being tested for Covid-19. – Malay Mail photo
KUCHING (March 19): A new Covid-19 cluster has been detected in Sarawak today as new cases dropped slightly to 1,177 compared to 1,316 yesterday.
According to the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) in its Covid-19 update, the new cluster dubbed the Jalan Taiton Cluster in Bau has infected 75 individuals to date including trainers, facilitators and staff at a government training academy there.
The index case is a local man who is a facilitator at the academy. He had done a self-test on March 13 which resulted in a positive Covid-19 result.
SDMC said out of 139 individuals screened in the cluster, 64 were negative. The committee added that the infection was caused by community spread through meetings among the staff at the academy.
“All individuals tested positive were referred to the Bau Covid-19 Assessment Centre (CAC) and the academy quarantine centre,” the committee said.
The total number of clusters that are still active in the state is six including this new one. The others did not record an increase in cases for the day.
Meanwhile, Sarawak recorded three Covid-19 deaths on March 17, one being a brought-in-dead (BID), along with 1,177 new positive cases today.
Two of the deaths were in Sibu Hospital, involving a 79-year-old woman who had hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease; and an 82-year-old man with hypertension, dyslipidaemia, diabetes, heart disease and kidney disease.
The BID case was of a woman aged 73, who was brought to the Sarawak General Hospital here, had hypertension, diabetes and needed assistance in daily living.
SDMC revealed that of the 1,177 new cases, 332 were in Category 1 (asymptomatic) and 835 in Category 2 (with mild symptoms).
Three cases were Category 3 (lung infection), four in Category 4 (lung infection and needing oxygen support) and three in Category 5 (lung infection and needing ventilator support).
The cumulative number of Covid-19 cases in Sarawak to date is 286,995.
SDMC said that Kuching had 414 new cases today, followed by Bintulu with 126, Bau (112), and Miri (110).
Sibu had 85 cases, Samarahan (71), Serian (53), Sri Aman (36), Sarikei (28), Betong and Mukah 14 each, Limbang (10), Kabong (9), Dalat (8), seven cases each in Meradong, Kapit, Asajaya, and Simunjan, and six in Saratok.
Daro, Pusa, Lawas, Tebedu and Subis had five cases each, Kanowit and Telang Usan had four each, and three cases each in Lundu, Tatau, Julau and Marudi.
Lubok Antu, Matu and Sebauh had two cases each, and Pakan and Selangau had one case each.
The state police also issued 10 standard-operating procedure (SOP) compounds, all in Kuching, for failure to check in via MySejahtera before entering premises.