By Karen Bong
KUCHING, June 17: Bintulu registered a new Covid-19 case today, bringing the total number of positive cases in Sarawak to 561.
State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas disclosed that the case was linked to the same family cluster which was detected through contact tracing to case 557.
The State Health Department will continue to trace contacts so to identify and pick up any cases from the cluster while monitoring the situation closely.
“If there is a need, we will move toward (conducting) Active Case Detection (ACD) but at the moment, no decision has been made in this direction,” he told a daily press conference on Covid-19 today.
The Deputy Chief Minister reiterated that the cases were detected due to the mandatory health screening order for all students from public and private higher learning institutions returning to Sarawak and to their hometowns throughout the state.
“This decision was made following a student from I-System in Kuching here who was found to be positive. The three discovered yesterday (June 16) are family members of the patient (I-System student),” he said.
Meanwhile, no recoveries are recorded today and as such, the total number of recovered cases in Sarawak is maintained at 534 or 95.19 per cent of total positive cases so far.
“As of today, ten patients are still being treated in hospitals with none admitted to Intensive Care Units (ICUs) or requiring respiratory support while the number of fatalities is maintained at 17,” he added.
There are five patients being treated in Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) and also in Bintulu Hospital.
Four districts in Sarawak are still labelled as Covid-19 yellow zones (40 or fewer Covid-19 cases) — Kuching, Samarahan, Simunjan and Bintulu.
Uggah also disclosed that the state registered 17 person-under-investigation (PUI) cases today while 11 cases are still awaiting laboratory test results.
“There are also 43 persons-under-surveillance (PUS) who have checked into identified hotels to undergo compulsory 14-day quarantines.
“As of today, there are a total of 648 individuals undergoing quarantine in 12 hotels across Sarawak,” he added. — DayakDaily
