KUCHING, June 5: A communal pig slaughtering activity held at a longhouse in Skim B, Meradong District in preparation for the Hari Gawai festival has led to a Covid-19 outbreak with 28 positive cases confirmed so far.
Dubbed the Skim B Cluster in Meradong, it is one of four new Covid-19 clusters being declared in Sarawak today.
State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), in its daily updates on Covid-19 situation in Sarawak, revealed that this community cluster stemmed from the slaughtering and cutting of pork activity carried out in a ‘gotong royong’ basis on May 27 at the longhouse in preparation for the Hari Gawai festival.
A total of 78 individuals have been screened whereby 45 tested negative while five were still awaiting lab test results.
All positive cases have been referred to Sarikei Hospital and admitted to the hospital and Quarantine and Low-Risk Treatment Centre (PKRC) Sarikei for treatment and isolation.
Meanwhile, the three new clusters that emerged today are Banting Cluster in Sri Aman linked to a 40-day prayer ceremony with 59 cases, Ijis Pengelayan Cluster due to Gawai Antu celebration (55 cases) and workplace Kampung Yoh Cluster in Sebauh (58 cases).
SDMC also declared the end of the Jelalong Cluster in Sebauh today after no new local cases were reported in the last 28 days.
With that, the number of active clusters in Sarawak stood at 80, out of which 16 clusters recorded an increase in daily infections of 119 cases. — DayakDaily
