By Ling Hui
KUCHING, April 3: Kuching has reported an alarming number of 86 new Covid-19 cases overnight, overtaking all other districts in Sarawak today.
According to the reports from the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) today, there are 290 new cases throughout Sarawak for the day and Kuching was the highest among 19 districts with new daily cases.
The sudden spike in the number of cases in Kuching was due to the outbreak of a new cluster, dubbed the Kampung Binyu Cluster concerning a wedding ceremony at the village.
Meanwhile, Bintulu recorded 81 cases, followed by Miri (36), Sibu (22), Serian (20), Samarahan (7), Kapit (6), Subis (6), Julau (5), Bukit Mabong (4), Meradong (3), Marudi (3), Sarikei (2), Selangau (2), Sri Aman (2), Tebedu (2), Tanjung Manis (1), Tatau (1) and Belaga (1).
With that, the cumulative number of positive cases in Sarawak now stands at 17,135.
Out of the 290 cases today, 156 cases were detected following close contact screenings, where 18 of them were symptomatic.
Another 104 cases were detected through individual screenings from existing active clusters, where 24 showed signs and symptoms of Covid-19.
The committee noted that 20 cases were from symptomatic tests in health facilities, eight cases from other screenings in health facilities, one Import-A case from Papua New Guinea and another Import-B case who returned from other states in Malaysia.
SDMC also registered one fatality case today, involving a 50-year-old Sarawak man in Bintulu who had no history of comorbidities.
The cumulative number of death cases from Covid-19 has, since then, increased to 113 individuals in Sarawak.
With 226 new recoveries throughout Sarawak, there are still 2,721 patients who are receiving treatment in hospitals across the State.
Touching on Covid-19 zones, Belaga has been converted from a green to yellow zone after recording one local infection case in the past 14 days, pushing the number of Covid-19 yellow zones in Sarawak to 19 districts.
Bukit Mabong, on the other hand, was reverted back to a yellow zone from its orange status after the number of local cases dropped to 20 in the last two weeks.
Currently, there are 10 Covid-19 red zones, three orange zones and eight green zones across Sarawak. — DayakDaily
