KUCHING, July 20 — Only one teacher posted to Sarawak has tested positive for Covid-19 so far, state Disaster Management Committee chairman Datuk Douglas Uggah said today.
He said the positive result is from a batch of 2,424 samples taken from a group of teachers originating from the peninsula and Sabah, adding that the educator was one of the six Covid-19 cases recorded yesterday.
“The laboratory tests on 14 other samples are still pending,” he told reporters here.
Uggah also said the classes for two secondary and 23 primary schools in Padawan district have been deferred to August 3, adding that classes for pre-schools, students in Forms Five and Upper Six will continue as usual.
The state disaster agency has also identified 83 construction sites in Miri, 16 in Bintulu, four in Simanggang, three in Samarahan, one each in Sibu and in Betong for random Covid-19 screening tests.
Of these, he said 833 samples from 578 local workers and 257 documented foreign workers have been taken for rT-PCR tests.
Another 788 samples, comprising 522 Malaysians and 255 documented foreign workers, tested negative for Covid-19.
The test results for 45 Malaysians and two foreign workers are still pending.
Uggah also said Covid-19 screening on plantation workers in Simanggang and Lubok Antu has begun. To date, 16 Malaysians and 15 documented foreign workers have been screened and 24 from the 31 have been found negative while the outcome of the remaining seven are still pending.
“Samples from workers from other plantations will be taken in stages later,” he added.
Uggah also said the state Health Department has randomly taken 985 samples for RT-PCR tests since June 26 at points of entry in Sarawak.
He said only two were found positive for Covid-19, while 834 were found negative. The outcome of 151 others is still pending.
“Based on the advice of the medical experts, the number of random screening at the main points of entry in Sarawak will be increased by 10 per cent from the total number of arrivals at any one time,” he said.
