By Karen Bong
KUCHING, Feb 19: Two new clusters have been declared today in Kuching dubbed Jalan Green Cluster which was linked to Valentine’s Day scuffle and in Sri Aman dubbed the Kejatau Cluster involving a workplace.
State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas informed that Jalan Green Cluster in Kuching was a community cluster after six individuals contracted Covid-19.
“This is the by-product of Valentine’s Day in which as a result, I was informed that more than 130 police officers are now being placed under quarantine,” he told a press conference on Covid-19 situation update in Sarawak today.
The index cases to the cluster were Case 7,093 and 7,094 involving two individuals who were previously detained by police following a scuffle between two groups of people in front of Chonglin Plaza at Jalan Green here on Feb 14.
Contact tracing and screening found four more cases today.
“Up until Feb 19 as at 12pm, 148 individuals have been screened whereby 112 are still awaiting lab test results.
“All the patients are isolated and treated at Sarawak General Hospital (SGH),” he said.
As for Kejatau Cluster in Sri Aman, Uggah revealed that it was a workplace cluster involving a government department at Wisma Persekutuan Phase 2 at Jalan Kejatau.
“The index case was Case 7,437 involving a 27-year-old man who was detected through symptomatic screening at the health clinic in Sri Aman.
“Contact tracing and screening found six new cases, out of which five were among colleagues and one involved a family member,” he reported.
Up until today, a total of 92 individuals have been screened whereby 79 are still awaiting lab test results.
All six patients are currently isolated and treated at the Quarantine and Low-Risk Treatment Centre (PKRC) Sri Aman.
With two new clusters declared today, this thus increased the total number of active clusters in Sarawak to 24.
Meanwhile, Sarawak reported two Covid-19 fatalities and 199 new cases with Sibu topping the list of daily infections at 126 cases followed by Kapit (15), Sri Aman and Bintulu (13 each), Kuching (7), Miri (6), Dalat and Kanowit (5 each), Meradong (4), Subis (2) and one each in Samarahan, Serian and Beluru.
This thus increased the State tally of positive cases to 7,624 and death toll to 69. -DayakDaily
