By: Ling Hui
KUCHING, Dec 31: An assistant pilot with the Rural Air Services (RAS) who was flying the Miri-Kota Kinabalu-Miri route was tested positive for Covid-19 today.
State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) said early investigations found Case 1,116, who was a Malaysian male, to be on duty in the overnight flights to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah from Miri and vice versa, on Dec 21, 24 and 26.
The patient started to have symptoms of sore throat on Dec 28 although he had been undergoing Covid-19 tests regularly due to work requests and his last test result on Dec 14 was negative.
“While infected with sore throat on Dec 28, the patient visited a few eateries and shopping malls around Miri city.
“Then on Dec 30, he flew from Miri to Lawas, Ba’kelalan and Bario. He visited a few eateries in Miri Airport and a restaurant in Miri before going to the Miri Hospital for further treatment that night,” said the committee in the Covid-19 statement today.
This case was categorised as an Import-B case as he was infected from a Covid-19 high risk area in Sabah. Further investigations on his whereabouts and contact tracing are being carried out by the Miri Health Department.
The second Import-B Covid-19 case was a Sarawakian male who had just returned from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on Dec 27.
He was a technician working in Johor since January, 2020 before moving to Penang from Dec 21 to 24. On Dec 25, he returned back to Kuala Lumpur and spent the night at Tasik Bandar Selatan before he proceeding to Miri on Dec 27.
“Upon his arrival at Miri Airport, he was admitted into one of the quarantine centres for mandatory quarantine. He underwent the Covid-19 swab on Dec 29 and his results returned positive on Dec 31.
With two new cases in Miri, SDMC said the cumulative number of cases in the state now stands at 1,117.
The committee also reported one new recovery who had been discharged from Sarawak General Hospital while 27 patients are still receiving treatment in the hospitals across the state.
“Today, there are eight new person-under-investigation (PUI) cases and zero cases awaiting laboratory test results,” it added.
Meanwhile 269 person-under-surveillance (PUS) registered into various hotels across Sarawak to undergo quarantine, and a total of 3,126 individuals are under quarantine in 42 hotels throughout Sarawak while 46,606 PUS have completed their 14-day quarantine. —DayakDaily
