By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, March 8: Out of the 26 active Covid-19 clusters in Sarawak, only four clusters stemming from social gatherings such as cockfighting, funeral and gotong royong paddy harvesting still register increase in positive cases.
These four clusters are Jalan Muhibbah Cluster in Betong which is linked to cockfighting, Bukit Tunggal Cluster in Julau which arose due to gotong royong paddy harvesting and Emperoh Jambu of Padawan as well as Gelong Cluster of Kapit which came into being due to funeral gatherings.
According to the statement of State Disaster Management Committee today, of the four clusters, Jalan Muhibbah cluster registered the highest number of five new positive cases, bringing the total number of cases arising from this cluster to 233 cases.
As many of 2,621 individuals linked to this cluster had been swabbed of which 2,199 showed negative results while the results of 189 individuals are still pending.
The cluster was formed following a social gathering involving cockfighting at a longhouse in Betong on Feb 10.
Emperoh Jambu Cluster, which caused a lockdown of the village, saw an increase of two new cases today, bringing the total infected cases related to this cluster to 232.
As many as 1,000 individuals were tested for the pandemic with 710 showing negative results while another 58 still pending for results.
Like Emperoh Jambu Cluster, Gelong Cluster in Kapit came about due to a funeral gathering. This cluster registered one new case today, bringing the total infected cases to 209.
Meanwhile, Bukit Tunggal Cluster of Julau, which was identified on March 6 following mass infection after a gotong royong paddy harvesting, saw a new case today.
Compared to the rest of the three clusters, this cluster is much smaller in size with less people infected. As of today, there are 32 cases linked to it and active contact tracing has resulted in 139 individuals being swabbed of which 107 showed negative results. — DayakDaily
