By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, April 18: A 16-year-old secondary school student residing at Kilometre 60 of Bintulu-Sibu road tested positive for Covid-19 that gave rise to a new cluster of Covid-19 known as the Jalan Bintulu-Sibu Cluster in Tatau district.
At the same time, another new cluster of Covid-19 which involved government quarters in Tarat, Serian district was identified by the State Health Department.
According to reports from the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), two new clusters of Covid-19 emerged today namely the Jalan Bintulu-Sibu Cluster in Tatau and the Tarat Tani Cluster in Serian.
The Jalan Bintulu-Sibu Cluster is an institution cluster which involves a secondary school and a residence at Km60 Bintulu-Sibu road in Tatau district.
The index case, case 18,771 was a 16-year-old male student who was identified from symptomatic screening following a Covid-19 swab test at Tatau Health Clinic on April 6 and tested positive on April 10.
SDMC said the index was moving around in Tatau district before going to his school dormitory on April 4, adding that he could be infected with Covid-19 from the community.
As a result, contact tracing and active case detection involving family members, students and the secondary school’s staff were carried out which resulted in 10 more positive cases identified.
At present, 546 individuals related to the cluster have been swabbed with 11 tested positive, 186 tested negative on the first Covid-19 swab test and 349 still awaiting the laboratory test results for their Covid-19 swab test.
As for the Tarat Tani Cluster in Serian, the index case is a 39-year-old housewife who was identified through symptomatic screening at the Tarat Health Clinic on April 10.
The housewife is believed to be infected with coronavirus from the community which then spread to the government quarters, including a primary and a secondary schools in Tarat.
Following contact tracing and active case detection being carried out by the State Health Department, 20 more cases related to the cluster were identified.
At the moment, a total of 320 individuals linked to the cluster have been screened for Covid-19 with 21 individuals tested positive, 146 tested negative on the first swab test and 153 still awaiting the results of their Covid-19 swab test.
In the meantime, all the positive cases have been admitted to Serian low risk quarantine centre for treatment. — DayakDaily
