By Ling Hui
KUCHING, March 18: An outbreak of 99 Covid-19 cases from the new immigration depot cluster at Semuja, Serian has contributed to almost one-third of the total cases recorded in the whole of Sarawak today.
Out of the total of 303 cases, State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said, Serian alone reported 101 new cases where 99 were of the Depot Imigresen Semuja Cluster while another two were community cases following close contact tracing.
Other districts seeing new Covid-19 cases were Bintulu (57), Sibu (47), Miri (27), Meradong (13), Kapit (10), Julau (9), Kuching (8), Sarikei (8), Sri Aman (6), Tanjung Manis (5), Bukit Mabong (4), Sebauh (2), Bau (1), Belaga (1), Kanowit (1), Samarahan (1), Selangau (1) and Subis (1).
“These cases consist of 153 cases who were detected following close contact screenings where eight of them were symptomatic.
“Another 123 cases were individual screenings from existing active clusters and none were symptomatic,” he said during the press conference on Covid-19 update today.
Adding on, he noted 20 cases who were screened at health facilities, six symptomatic cases at health facilities, and one case involving a Sarawakian who just returned from Sabah.
With that, the cumulative number of positive cases in Sarawak now stands at 13,413.
Meanwhile, Uggah also reported one new death, which is the 95th fatality case in the state. It involved a 58-year-old female Sarawakian in Sibu who was experiencing fever, coughs, loss of taste and fatigue before her passing yesterday (March 17).
He added 206 new recoveries in Sarawak from Sibu Hospital (51), Miri Hospital (35), Sarawak General Hospital (28), Sarikei Hospital (19), Betong Hospital (15), Sri Aman Hospital (8), Serian Hospital (4) and Mukah Hospital (1).
As of today, there are 2,433 patients who are still receiving treatment in hospitals across the state.—DayakDaily
