KUCHING, Oct 8 — Sarawak recorded eight new positive Covid-19 cases today, bringing the total number of positive cases in the state to 732, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
He said the latest cases consisted of four locally transmitted cases of which three cases were recorded in Kuching and one in Bintulu, along with four imported cases where two were recorded in Kuching and two in Miri.
“Case 725 involved a close contact to Case 724 who was confirmed as positive on October 7.
“This case was screened through active screening activities on October 7 and the RT-PCR test result of the case was found to be positive on the same day,” he said when providing the latest update on the state’s Covid-19 situation at a press conference today.
He said the case, who is asymptomatic, has been admitted to Bintulu Hospital for further treatment.
“This case has been categorised as a local transmission after being infected by Case 724 between September 27 and October 7.
“The results of other contacts of Case 724 have returned negative but they will undergo a second screening test on the tenth day,” he said.
For Cases 726 and 727, Uggah, who is also State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman said these involved two men from India who arrived in Sarawak to work for a private company in Miri.
“Both cases arrived in Malaysia on September 17 via Kuala Lumpur and had undergone the 14-day mandatory quarantine there.
“During the quarantine, both cases underwent Covid-19 screening tests twice where the first test was via the RT-PCR and the second test through RTK Antigen. The results of the two tests had turned up negative,” he said.
He said both cases then continued on their journey to Miri on October 4 and were readmitted to the quarantine centre and also underwent Covid-19 screening.
“They were screened for Covid-19 at a private hospital in Miri on October 7 and their RT-PCR test results were found to be positive on the same day,” he said, adding that these two cases have been categorised as ‘Import A’ in view that the patients were infected when they were in their home country namely India.
Tracing of contacts for these two cases are still ongoing.
On Case 728, he said it involved a local man who had travelled to Kelana Jaya, Selangor from September 22 to 27 to visit his family members.
“The case underwent self-screening at a government health clinic on Oc 6 as he was concerned of his health condition after suffering from fever on September 27.
“The screening test taken on October 6 was found to be positive for Covid-19 today (October 8). The patient has been referred and admitted to Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) for further treatment,” he said.
He added that this case has been categorised as ‘Import B’ in view that the patient was infected when he was in Selangor and that investigation and close contact tracing for the case is underway.
For Cases 729, 730 and 731, these three patients were close contacts to Case 719 who was confirmed as Covid-19 positive on October 6, said Uggah.
He said these three new cases are living in the same household as Case 719 and were detected through active case tracing activities.
“They are all asymptomatic and have been admitted to SGH for further treatment,” he added.
He also said 13 other close contacts to Case 719 were found to be negative for the first Covid-19 screening test and that other contacts would be undergoing a second screening test on the tenth day.
On Case 732, Uggah said it involved a local man who had travelled to Sabah from September 19 to 27 for business purposes.
“Prior to returning to Sarawak, he underwent an RT-PCR test on September 25 at a private laboratory there. The results came back negative on the same day and as such he was allowed to return to Sarawak.
“Upon arrival at Kuching International Airport (KIA), the case was given a home quarantine order and was instructed to undergo Covid-19 screening on the tenth day which was on October 6.
“This test was conducted at a government health clinic and the results on October 7 found that the case had tested positive for Covid-19,” he said.
He said the case, who is asymptomatic, has been admitted to SGH for further treatment.
“This case has been categorised as ‘Import B’ as he was infected while in a high-risk area namely Sabah,” he said, adding that investigation and tracing of close contacts to this case is ongoing.
Uggah said with the eight new positive cases recorded, this resulted in 29 patients now being treated at hospitals throughout the state of which 16 are treated at the isolation ward of SGH, eight at Miri Hospital, three at Sibu Hospital and two at Bintulu Hospital.
“There are also no Covid-19 patients who had recovered or were discharged from hospitals today.
“The total number of recoveries remain at 684 which accounts for 93.44 per cent out of the overall cases,” he said.
On the number of persons under investigation (PUI), he said said 16 new cases were recorded today and that four cases were pending lab test results.
Since the first positive Covid-19 case was reported on March 13, the state has recorded a total of 19 deaths. — Borneo Post
