By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, May 2: A 55-year-old local housewife who attended a funeral prayer service for a relative from April 19 to 21 is the index case to the newly declared Sungai Tengah Covid-19 Cluster at Jalan Matang, Bau today.
The Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) said the index case who is Covid-19 Case 27,630 tested positive for the virus through symptomatic screening at Bau Hospital on April 24.
“The index case is a housewife who had attended a prayer service for a deceased relative in the village from April 19 to 21.
“The spread of the infection is believed to have stemmed from funeral ceremonies and subsequently spread to family members and local communities in the village,” it said.
Following an investigation and active case detection (ACD) on close contacts and casual contacts to the index case as well as Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) surveillance, 22 more cases were discovered.
“A total of 175 individuals linked to this cluster were screened whereby 23 cases tested positive for Covid-19 including the index case, 110 were negative while 42 are still awaiting laboratory test results.
“All positive cases were referred and admitted to Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) and Low-Risk Treatment Centres (PKRCs) in Kuching and Bau districts for isolation and further treatment,” the committee said in a statement today.
SDMC also announced that the village has been placed under an Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) to control and curb the spread of infections. — DayakDaily
