By Ling Hui
KUCHING, March 19: Sarawak has topped Malaysia in the number of new Covid-19 cases today with a record-high 407 while Serian surmounted all other districts in Sarawak.
Out of the total of 407 cases, State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said Serian, alone reported 140 new cases where 138 were inmates of the immigration depot cluster at Semuja.
Other districts seeing new Covid-19 cases were Sibu (65), Miri (49), Betong (40), Bintulu(26), Sri Aman (23), Kuching (19), Samarahan (11), Kapit (10), Song (6), Subis (5), Meradong (4), Lundu (3), Julau (2), Kanowit (2), Dalat (1) and Limbang (1).
“In brief, 28 cases were symptomatic and out of the total, 221 cases were individual screenings from existing active clusters where five were symptomatic.
“Another 161 cases were detected following close contact screenings where 15 of them showed signs and symptoms of Covid-19 infection,” he said during the press conference on Covid-19 update today.
Adding on, he noted six symptomatic cases who were screened at health facilities and the remaining 19 cases were of other community screenings.
With that, he reported that the cumulative number of positive cases in Sarawak now stands at 13,820.
Meanwhile, Uggah also reported one new death, which is the 96th fatality case in the state.
It involved a 55-year-old male Sarawakian in Sibu who was detected through an active case detection (ACD) at one of the Covid-19 high-risk areas.
“The case was receiving treatment in the Sibu Hospital, but his condition deteriorated and he was confirmed to have passed away on March 18,” he said.
He added 183 new recoveries in Sarawak from Sibu Hospital (74), Sarawak General Hospital (35), Bintulu Hospital (28), Sarikei Hospital (17), Kapit Hospital (8), Miri Hospital (8), Betong Hospital (7), Mukah Hospital (5) and Serian Hospital (1).
There are now 2,654 patients who are still receiving treatment in the hospitals across the state. —DayakDaily
