By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, Sept 26: One healthcare worker from Lawas was tested positive for Covid-19.
The State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) in a statement today said there was one positive case of Covid-19 detected in Lawas.
With the additional case, the committee said the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases in Sarawak has increased to 704 cases.
SDMC said the latest case involved a healthcare worker from the State Health Department who was assigned to Sabah to assist the healthcare team in curbing the transmission of Covid-19 in Sabah.
The committee said the healthcare worker underwent Covid-19 swab test at a local health clinic on September 20.
It added that the sample of the Covid-19 test was sent to the Kota Kinabalu Public Health Laboratory on the same day and the results for the rapid test polymerase chain reaction (rt PCR) on September 25 showed that it was positive for Covid-19.
SDMC said the healthcare worker experienced fever and cough on September 1 and 2 and was referred to Miri Hospital for further medical treatment.
The committee said the healthcare worker did not have a history of travelling overseas but went to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah on July 26 for personal reasons and stayed overnight at an apartment.
SDMC said early investigation showed that the case might be a local transmission case.
Nonetheless, the committee added the case is still under investigation and all close contacts including family members, contacts at work and social contacts were actively being carried out.
With the case from Lawas, SDMC said the Lawas district has turned from a green zone of Covid-19 to a yellow zone today.
It noted that there are currently two districts which are in the yellow zone, Kuching and Lawas while the balance of 38 districts in Sarawak remained in the green zone.
SDMC said there were no active clusters in Sarawak as the Alam cluster which involved eight patients arising from a cargo ship which docked in Bintulu has ended today.
The committee said there were four new cases of person-under-investigation (PUI) while none awaiting laboratory test results.
SDMC said there were no new deaths reported while the death toll due to Covid-19 in Sarawak stood at 19 persons.
It added that there were 28 persons who registered into hotels for quarantine as person-under-surveillance (PUS).
The committee said there were 613 PUS who are undergoing quarantine at 11 hotels while a total of 24,504 PUS have completed their 14-day quarantine period today —DayakDaily
