KUCHING, Dec 11: A Filipino man about to start work in an oil tanker in Bintulu was the sole imported Covid-19 case in Sarawak today.
This thus increased the state tally of positive cases to 1,074.
The State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), in a statement today, revealed that Case 1,074 who arrived in Kuala Lumpur from Manila, the Philippines on Nov 13 had proceeded to observe 14-day mandatory quarantine in a centre in Petaling Jaya.
During the quarantine period, he had undergone rT-PCR tests on Nov 13 and Nov 26 with both results negative.
On Nov 30, he then flew into Sarawak and upon arrival at Miri Airport, he observed another round of quarantine as well as took the first Covid-19 test in a private hospital but the result was negative.
He was released from quarantine order and allowed to continue his journey to Bintulu on Dec 5. Upon arrival at Bintulu, the case stayed in a hotel while waiting to sign-on for duty.
On Dec 9, the case went for the second Covid-19 test and the result returned positive. He was asymptomatic and is currently being isolated and treated at Bintulu Hospital.
Investigations and contact tracing are underway but based on initial findings, the case was suspected to have been infected in his home country.
Meanwhile, two patients have recovered and discharged from Miri Hospital today. As such, the total number of recovered cases in Sarawak has increased at 1,043 or 97.11 per cent of total positive cases so far.
With another new case, a total of 12 patients are receiving treatment in hospitals in the state with 10 in Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) and one each in Miri and Bintulu Hospitals.
There are still four clusters remaining active in Kuching namely Besi Cluster (12 cases), Jalan Abell Cluster (15 cases), Greenhill Cluster (91 cases) and Wisma Saberkas Cluster (44 cases).
Kuching and Serian remained as yellow zones with a total of three local cases reported in the last 14 days.
Sarawak also recorded 16 more persons-under-investigation (PUI) with two cases pending laboratory test results.
There were also 351 more persons-under-surveillance (PUS) registered into identified hotels to undergo quarantine.
As of today, there were a total number of 4,461 individuals undergoing quarantine in 41 hotels and quarantine facilities throughout the state. — DayakDaily
