By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, March 9: Today’s sharp drop in Covid-19 cases in Sibu is hopefully the beginning of better things to come for the riverine town.
This sentiment was expressed by Sibu Division Disaster Management Committee coordinator Dr Annuar Rapaee who showed a line chart of daily Covid-19 cases registered in Sibu district which displayed great fluctuations.
“We are hoping to see it going down. This is the beginning of improving (Covid-19 situation in Sibu), so keep going with our SOP (standard operating procedure),” said Dr Annuar when commenting on today’s substantial drop of Covid-19 cases in Sibu during a livestream today.
For the last three days, Sibu had topped the list of districts in the state with the highest number of Covid-19 cases. Yesterday, Sibu accounted for 149 out of 252 cases detected across Sarawak. Today, the number plunged to 17 with other districts registering more new cases than Sibu.
Dr Annuar who is also the Education, Science and Technological Research Assistant Minister stressed that cases reported in Sibu have been high due to active contact tracing.
Citing the example of today’s new cases where 13 out of 17 cases reported were detected through active contact tracing, Dr Annuar said if Sarawak did not focus on active contact tracing but only swab-testing those with symptoms, the 13 cases who were asymptomatic would not have been detected and these patients may continue to transmit the coronavirus without realising it.
Meanwhile, explaining the Covid-19 situation in various zones in Sibu, Dr Annuar said there were five Covid-19 cases within the Sibu Municipal Council’s jurisdiction, with one case each in Tong Sang, Tiong Hua and Awang Ramli Amit and two cases in Permai.
In Sibu Jaya, the Nangka assemblyman disclosed there were six cases detected, with Block C of Sibu Jaya Flats registering two cases and Block L with one case. A terrace house unit at Lorong Sibu Jaya 5E had three cases.
For zones under the Sibu Rural District Council (SRDC), Durin/Naman and KJD/Assan registered one case each while Batang Igan saw four cases. — DayakDaily
