KUCHING, Oct 25 — Sarawak recorded 16 new Covid-19 cases today, with 15 detected in Kuching and one in Serian, bringing the cumulative tally of positive cases in the state to 796.

According to the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), seven were imported cases, another seven were from contact tracing of previously identified Covid-19 positive patients and two from other screenings.

"There are seven imported cases today from areas that have been identified as high-risk for Covid-19. Case 781, 782 and 787 comprised two local women and one man who had a history of travelling to Selangor,” it said in a statement.

It added the 783rd case was a local woman who had been to Sungai Petani, Kedah and the 784th and 785th case were a mother and child who attended a relative’s wedding at Kuantan, Pahang.

The 786th case was a higher learning institute student in Kuala Lumpur, it added.

"Patients from the 781st to 787th cases had returned to the state on October 14 on board of the same flight and they were placed in quarantine centres in Kuching upon arrival. Their second reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rT-PCR) tests on October 23 identified them as positive for the virus. The patients have since been admitted to Sarawak General Hospital for further treatments.”

The committee added seven new cases were detected following active contact tracing efforts of recently identified Covid-19 positive patients.

"The 788th, 7989th and 790th cases were close contacts of the Baki Cluster. They had a history of attending a family gathering together with case 768 and 770 from October 4 and 5. The latest cases were from the same family, consisting of a husband and wife and a child studying in Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Wira Penrissen.”

Case 791, 793, 794 and 795 were close contacts of the Seladah Cluster, with three of them being close family members of case 771 and one being a customer who had previously purchased kueh from the Case 771.

The committee added two other new positive cases, Case 792 and 796 were of two local men who always visited a longhouse in Sematan, Lundu on every weekend.

"Both Case 792 and 796 had undergone Covid-19 screenings at a public health facility in Kuching on October 23 as both had close contact with a case identified as positive for Covid-19 via antigen rapid test kits (RTK). The results of their rT-PCR came back positive on October 24.”

Meanwhile, the committee added a total of 36 compounds were issued by the police across the state today, with 22 in Miri district, 13 in Kuching and one in Betong.

"The Ministry of Local Government and Housing had also issued 90 written and oral warnings as well as seizure notices today, with 24 in Lubok Antu District Council, Sibu Municipal Council (21), Marudi District Council (15), Kuching North City Commission (12), Bintulu Development Authority (9), Serian District Council (4), Maradong and Julau District Council (3) and Miri City Council (2).”

Six roadblocks were set up in five districts, namely two in Lawas and one each in Lundu, Bau, Serian and Serian – with 1,678 vehicles inspected today.

"Today, we also recorded 274 new person-under-surveillance cases registering to be quarantined in hotels. This brings the total number of individuals currently being quarantined in 23 hotels state-wide to 2,079,” said the committee. — Borneo Post