KUCHING, Nov 18: Three new Covid-19 cases detected in Kuching today led to the creation of a new cluster called the Besi Cluster involving Demak Laut and Batu Lintang areas.
State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), in a statement today, revealed that the index case of the cluster is Case 1,040 who was found positive for Covid-19 following the individual screening on Nov 15.
With the new locally transmitted cases, this pushes the total number of infected patients statewide to 1,045.
SDMC informed that the new cases, involving local men aged between 22 and 25 years old, were detected through active case detection (ACD) and close contact screening operation.
Case 1,043 is the colleague with close contact to Case 1,040 and 1,042. The case was screened on Nov 16 through ACD being carried out by the State Health Department at the workplace in Demak Laut.
He has been suffering from some symptoms since Nov 4.
Case 1,044 is a family member and close contact to Case 1,043. He was detected following close contact tracing and had undergone health screening as well as the Covid-19 test at a public health clinic on Nov 17. He also started to have a cough and fever on Nov 16.
Case 1,045 is a housemate, colleague and close contact with Case 1,040. The case was found through close contact tracing and was admitted to the quarantine centre before undergoing screening on Nov 17. He was asymptomatic.
All cases, according to SDMC, have no travel history out of the country or visited any high-risk areas in the country. The cases are now isolated and treated at Sarawak General Hospital (SGH).
Further investigation and close contact tracing for all the cases are actively being carried out.
On Besi Cluster, SDMC disclosed that up until 12pm today, 237 individuals had been screened, out of which five were positive with three new cases confirmed today.
A total of 220 individuals were negative and 12 are still awaiting lab test results.
With the addition of Besi Cluster, there are currently six active clusters in Kuching. The rest are Jalan Abell Cluster with 15 cases, Baki Cluster (33 cases), Seladah Cluster (9 cases), Greenhill Cluster (91 cases), and Wisma Saberkas Cluster (44 cases).
Meanwhile, Kuching remained as a red zone with 97 local transmission cases recorded within the past 14 days while Miri and Limbang maintained as yellow zones.
There were 13 cases that have recovered and been discharged from SGH. Thus, the total number of recovered cases in Sarawak has been increased to 946 or 90.53 per cent of total positive cases so far.
A total of 80 patients are receiving treatment in hospitals in the state currently with 70 in SGH including one requiring a ventilator and 10 in Miri Hospital.
Sarawak also recorded 23 more persons-under-investigation (PUI) with 16 cases pending laboratory test results.
There were also 90 more persons-under-surveillance (PUS) registered into identified hotels to undergo quarantine.
As of today, there were a total number of 3,042 individuals undergoing quarantine in 30 hotels throughout the state. — DayakDaily
