KUCHING, May 22: Hari Raya celebration movement has caused new Covid-19 cases in Kuching to surge into triple digits with 149 cases reported today, topping the list of daily infections as Sarawak reported another daily high of 749 cases and two deaths.
State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), in its daily update report on Covid-19 situation in Sarawak, reported more than 95 per cent of cases in Kuching District identified were contacts to positive cases with majority of them family members due to travel movement during the past Hari Raya celebration.
Of the 749 new cases, 446 or 59.55 per cent of cases were detected in Kuching, Sibu, Miri and Mukah districts.
Apart from Kuching, 30 other districts also reported new cases namely Sibu (125), Miri (93), Mukah (79), Kanowit (49), Bintulu (48), Belaga (37), Sri Aman (24), Samarahan (21), Kapit (20), Selangau (16), Serian (11), Betong (11), Sebauh, Pakan and Subis (10 each), Tatau (7), Beluru and Asajaya (5 each), Bau and Pusa (3 each), Bukit Mabong, Saratok, Julau and Daro (2 each) while Sarikei, Dalat, Lundu, Song dan Meradong has one case each.
This thus increased the State tally of positive cases to 41,620 and death toll to 249.
From the figure, SDMC informed that 80 cases were symptomatic while 615 cases consisted of individuals who have been moved into quarantine.
In addition, 573 cases were detected from screening due to contact to positive cases, 74 cases were from other screenings at healthcare facilities, 60 cases from symptomatic screenings, 41 cases were from screenings among active clusters and one domestic import case.
As for the two fatalities, the victims were elderly persons with comorbidities, both from Miri Hospital.
The 248th fatality or Case 41,233 involved a 75-year-old woman who was referred to the hospital after suffering from breathing difficulty. She also experienced coughing and fever for the past four days.
Her rT-PCR swab test returned positive on May 20 but her condition deteriorated and subsequently passed away the same day. The victim was comorbid with hypertension, diabetes and chronic kidney disease.
The 249th fatality or Case 41,257 was a 77-year-old man who had received treatment at the hospital also for breathing difficulty.
The victim also started showing symptoms of shortness of breath and fatigue when carrying out activities in the past five days.
His swab test was positive on May 21 but his condition deteriorated and subsequently passed away on the same day. He was comorbid with hypertension, heart disease and diabetes.
SDMC also reported 769 recoveries today, taking the total number of recovered and discharged patients to 34,791 or 83.59 per cent of total number of Covid-19 cases in Sarawak.
As of today, a total of 6,489 active cases are still receiving treatment and being isolated in healthcare facilities and Quarantine and Low-Risk Treatment Centres (PKRCs) throughout Sarawak.
With no new cluster declared, there are 80 active clusters remaining in Sarawak, out of which 13 clusters reported an increase in daily infections with 52 cases in total. — DayakDaily
