New Serian detention depot cluster yields 19 infections, becomes 5th active cluster in Sarawak

Covid-19 (file photo)

By Ling Hui

KUCHING, March 10: The newly declared detention depot cluster involving DTI Semuja 3 in Serian has seen 19 individuals confirmed positive for Covid-19 so far, including the index case.

The Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) in a report today disclosed the cluster was centred on the Semuja immigration detention depot (DTI).

Investigations found the index case (Case 270,274) of the cluster to be a 34-year-old non-Malaysian male detainee who tested positive for Covid-19 when screened before attending court on March 7.

“The spread of the infection is believed to be due to close association and contact among staff and detainees in the detention depot,” said SDMC.

To date, 295 individuals have been swabbed and 228 samples returned negative results. Another 48 samples are awaiting laboratory test results.

SDMC gave assurance that all positive cases have been admitted to the Serian Covid-19 Assessment Centre (CAC) or quarantined at Semuja DTI.

Meanwhile, the Citrawarna Tebingan Sungai Kuching Cluster recorded one new case today.

As of today, Sarawak has five active clusters. — DayakDaily