SRI AMAN, Mar 26: A total of 20 Indonesian workers in Sri Aman palm oil plantation was sent to a Covid-19 quarantine centre in Kota Samarahan as Persons Under Investigation (PUI) after showing early symptoms.
According to sources, one of the new workers, who is from Makassar in Indonesia, is suspected of being the carrier for the virus which may have infected 19 others in the plantation.
“The worker gained entry into Sarawak through the Tebedu Crossing Check Point on March 12, 2020, and later reported in to the palm oil plantation in Sri Aman on March 13, 2020.
“On March 18, 2020, the individual reported that he was having fever and coughing which are early symptoms of Covid-19, and it is believed that 19 others, who live together with the individual at the plantation, have also been infected.”
On March 24, 2020, the plantation manager had informed Sri Aman Hospital on the matter, and requested a Covid-19 screening test to be conducted on the 20 workers showing early symptoms.
The following day on March 25, 2020, four Health Ministry officers from Sri Aman accompanied the plantation bus carrying the 20 plantation workers to the quarantine center in Kota Samarahan for blood and screening test.
“On the same day, the Sri Aman Health Department also went to the Indonesian quarters in the plantation to brief them on prevention efforts, and at the same time instructed them to stay at their quarters,” a source revealed.
Meanwhile, in response to a question from the media at a press conference in Kuching today, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said the State Disaster Management Committee was made to understand that there were Indonesian workers at a plantation in Sri Aman brought for medical check up at Kota Samarahan.
“But there is a quarantine centre in Sri Aman, so those workers were sent back to Sri Aman to be quarantined and monitored,” Abang Johari confirmed. —DayakDaily.
