By Ling Hui
KUCHING, Sept 12: Kuching becomes the only district in Sarawak which reported over a thousand Covid-19 cases today with a record of 1,845 while other districts have also shown an increasing trend in new cases.
Nine districts namely Serian (620), Sibu (436), Bintulu (435), Bau (212), Samarahan (196), Sri Aman (162), Lundu (154), Betong (138), and Miri (122), registered three-digit caseloads for the day, totaling up to 2,475 cases.
According to reports by State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) today, 22 districts recorded double-digit case numbers that sum up to another 952 cases.
They were Sarikei (99), Mukah (96), Simunjan (80), Julau (74), Pakan (65), Kanowit (63), Asajaya (56), Tebedu (55), Subis (41), Kapit (37), Selangau (35), Limbang (33), Lubok Antu (33), Meradong (31), Saratok (29), Lawas (25), Matu (22), Dalat (19), Belaga (17), Pusa (16), Marudi (14), and Tatau (12).
Other districts with new infections included Song (7), Sebauh (7), Bukit Mabong (3), and Beluru (2).
On the sudden spike of new cases to a record high of 5,291 across Sarawak today, SDMC explained that the jump was due to backlog cases from the past five days, in view of the increased intensity in active case detection (ACD) events in all divisions.
Out of the total, it pointed out that 5,288 cases or 99.94 per cent were of Categories 1 and 2 with none or mild symptoms while only three patients were in the serious of Categories 3, 4 and 5.
“Out of the 5,291 patients, 3,895 were detected following close contact screenings where 640 of them were symptomatic.
“Another 389 cases were of individual screenings from active clusters where 16 of them showed signs and symptoms of Covid-19 infection.
“Adding on, 514 cases were of symptomatic screenings, 486 cases were from other screenings in health facilities, one was an Import-A case from Vietnam, and another six were Import-B cases from Sabah, Kuala Lumpur, Perak, Selangor and Terengganu,” said the committee in a statement on Covid-19 update today.
Meanwhile, Sarawak recorded eight new Covid-19 deaths today, thus pushing the death toll to 625.
The eight victims were aged between 31 and 86, with three each from Kuching and Bintulu, and one each from Asajaya and Sibu. Three of them were brought-in-dead (BID) cases.
On recoveries, 2,808 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospitals across Sarawak, while there are 39,982 active cases in isolation or treatment. — DayakDaily
