By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, Oct 3: Sarawak reported three new positive cases of Covid-19 today.
The State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) in a press statement said two cases were registered in Sibu and one case in Kuching.
With the additional three cases, the committee said the number of cumulative Covid-19 cases in Sarawak has increased to 716 cases.
Elaborating further, SDMC said case number 714 involved a security personnel who returned from a trip back to his hometown in Tawau, Sabah.
The committee said the security personnel worked in Kapit and returned to his hometown in Tawau, Sabah on September 17.
It added the security personnel were in Sabah until September 30.
SDMC said the security personnel took his flight from Tawau Airport on September 29 to Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) and stayed overnight in Kota Kinabalu.
The committee said he continued his journey from Kota Kinabalu to Kuching on September 30 while passing through Kuching International Airport (KIA) before resuming his journey to Sibu on the same day.
SDMC said he was given notice of 14 days self-quarantine at home.
The committee pointed out that the security personnel had undergone Covid-19 swab test and rapid test polymerase chain reaction (rt-PCR) and he was found to be positive of the virus on October 2.
SDMC gathered that the security personnel had undertaken Covid-19 swab test at a private clinic in Tawau, Sabah on September 28 but the test results were negative.
Apart from that, the committee said case number 715 involved a local teacher who teaches in a school in Tambunan, Sabah.
SDMC said the teacher went back to Sibu on September 30 for holiday.
It added that the teacher took a flight from KKIA and had a stopover in KIA before continuing to Sibu on the same day.
It noted the teacher last went back to Sibu for holiday in June 2020.
SDMC said the teacher was tested positive for Covid-19 on October 2 after undertaking a swab test while stopping over at KIA.
The committee gathered that the teacher had undergone Covid-19 swab test on September 27 at a public health clinic in Luyang, Sabah but the results were negative.
It said the teacher was asymptomatic and was admitted to Sibu Hospital.
SDMC said the case has been classified as infection from a high risk district in Sabah adding that contact tracing has been carried out.
As for the third case, SDMC said the patient is an offshore oil and gas worker with a petroleum company in Kota Kinabalu.
The committee said the patient has signed off on September 29 from the oil rig.
Upon arrival on land, the committee said the patient and his crew were placed at a hotel and subsequently underwent Covid-19 swab test at a private healthcare centre in Jesselton, Sabah.
It added that the patient and his crew were initially tested negative.
SDMC said the patient returned to Kuching on September 30 and was tested for Covid-19 upon arrival at KIA.
The committee said his results were positive for the virus on October 2.
SDMC said there was an increase of three patients being treated at the isolation wards in the hospitals.
With that, the committee said there are currently a total of 15 patients being treated at the isolation wards in the hospitals.
SDMC said there were six new cases of Person-Under-Investigation (PUI) while three PUI cases were awaiting laboratory test results.
It added that there were 53 Person-Under-Surveillance (PUS) who registered into hotels to undergo quarantine.
The committee said there are 966 PUS who are undergoing quarantine at 12 hotels throughout Sarawak.
It revealed that a total of 24,782 PUS have completed their 14 days quarantine period today. —DayakDaily
