By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, Jan 23: Sarawak registered 193 new cases of Covid-19 and two new deaths today.
The two fatalities reported were in Sibu. With the two additional casualties, the death toll due to Covid-19 in Sarawak has risen to 26.
The State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) in a press statement today said one of the victims who passed away due to Covid-19 was a 35-year-old woman who was symptomatic.
The committee added the deceased also had hypertension and obesity and was admitted to Sibu Hospital yesterday (January 22) after experiencing shortness of breath.
It noted the victim’s polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results on January 16 was positive for Covid-19 and her rapid test kit (RTK) antigen test yesterday (January 22) was also positive for Covid-19.
SDMC said the victim succumbed to coronavirus early this morning (January 23) at 5.20 am.
The committee added another casualty reported involved a 74-year-old man who was related to the Pasai Cluster.
It noted the deceased was admitted to Sibu Hospital on January 13 and was confirmed positive for Covid-19 on January 14.
The committee said his health condition deteriorated since January 18 and was on ventilator support.
It added the victim passed away this morning at 10.02 am at Sibu Hospital.
With the addition of 193 cases of Covid-19 reported, the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases in Sarawak has risen to 3,124 cases.
Meanwhile, SDMC said out of the 193 new cases today, Sibu continued to report triple digit figure with 138 cases.
Out of that amount, 114 cases in Sibu were linked to the Pasai Cluster whereas the balance of 24 cases were from individuals who conducted swab test at health clinics.
It added Miri reported the second highest number of cases with 12, followed by Bintulu with 10, Kuching (9), Dalat (9), Kapit (5), Sebauh (4), Kanowit (2), Selangau (2), Bau (1) and Limbang (1).
SDMC explained that the sole case reported in Bau was from an individual who underwent Covid-19 swab test at the Bau health clinic and was classified as local infection.
With one new case reported in Bau, the Bau district has turned into a yellow zone of Covid-19 from a green zone.
The committee said there were 134 cases of recoveries, adding that total number of recoveries and patients allowed to be discharged from the hospitals due to Covid-19 has increased to 1,593 people or 50.99 per cent of the total confirmed cases in Sarawak.
It added that there were a total of 1,500 patients who were receiving treatment at health facilities throughout Sarawak.
There were 291 new cases of Person-Under-Investigation (PUI) reported while 95 PUI cases were awaiting laboratory test results for their Covid-19 swab test.
Other than that, the committee revealed that there were 250 new Person-Under-Surveillance (PUS) who registered into hotels today to undergo quarantine.
There are 5,688 PUS who are undergoing quarantine at 74 hotels and quarantine centres while a total of 54,962 PUS have completed their mandatory quarantine. —DayakDaily
