KUCHING, April 28: A 32-year-old secondary school teacher in Sri Aman who tested positive for Covid-19 through symptomatic screening was the index case of a new cluster in Sri Aman after the virus spread to 12 other students and staff.
Dubbed the Melugu Cluster in Sri Aman, it is one of two new clusters in Sarawak, with the other being the Ulu Strass Cluster in Meradong, which recorded 25 cases.
The State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), in its daily update report on Covid-19 in Sarawak today, informed that this community cluster involved a public secondary school in Sri Aman.
The index case or case 28,470 was a male secondary school teacher who was detected from symptomatic screening at the Sri Aman Health Clinic on April 21.
His screening using the Rapid Test Kit Antigen was found reactive on April 23 and the case was immediately admitted to the quarantine centre in Sri Aman. Subsequently, his rT-PCR swab test also tested positive for Covid-19 on April 25.
The case was suspected to have been infected from the community while in Sri Aman District.
Further investigation and screening on family members as well as targeted screening carried out on staff and students of the secondary school uncovered 12 more positive cases.
As of today, SDMC reported that a total of 582 individuals have been screened whereby 163 were tested negative and 406 are still awaiting lab tests results.
All 13 cases were referred to the Sri Aman Hospital and admitted to the Quarantine and Low-Risk Treatment Centre (PKRC) under the hospital for isolation and treatment.
With two new clusters, Sarawak now has 65 active clusters out of which eight clusters also recorded an increase in daily infections of 53 cases today.
The clusters are Jalan Roban Lama with 19 cases, Jalan Selirik and Duranda Emas (8 cases each), Sungai Kawi and Rayang (6 cases each), Tarat Tani (4 cases), while Disso and Jalan Disa has one case each. — DayakDaily
