KUCHING, March 16: A 55-year-old woman has triggered a new Covid-19 cluster dubbed Nanga Bulo in Julau after 32 new infections were reported from three longhouses in Nangga Bulo in Entabai overnight.
State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), in a statement today revealed that Nanga Bulo was a community cluster involving three longhouses at Nangga Bulo, Entabai under the Julau District.
The index case, Case 11,474 was a 55-year-old woman who was detected from symptomatic screening when receiving treatment at the Emergency and Trauma Department of Sibu Hospital after experiencing difficulty in breathing, cough and fever on March 8.
As a result of further investigation and screening of close contacts to the case, 32 individuals were found to have contracted Covid-19.
As such, SDMC informed that the three longhouses were immediately placed under two-weeks lockdown on March 12 until 25 to curb the spread of infections in the area.
As of today, a total of 160 individuals have been screened whereby 34 were found to be positive including the index case while 126 were negative and no lab test results were pending.
All the 34 cases have been referred to the Sarikei Hospital for isolation and treatment.
Those found to be reactive for the Rapid Test Kit (RTK) Antigen were placed at a centre in Sarikei to undergo 14-days quarantine and to take the rT-PCR tests for Covid-19.
Meanwhile, Nanga Bulo Cluster was one of the three clusters that emerged in Sarawak today while SDMC also declared the end of the Mas Merah Cluster in Sibu after no local cases were reported in the past 28 days.
The other two new clusters were identified in Sibu namely Kampung Hilir cluster, which was linked to a village resettlement scheme, with 35 positive cases and Jalan Sanyan cluster, which was linked to supermarket, has 19 cases.
There are 31 clusters still active in the state.
Sarawak reported three Covid-19 fatalities in Sibu and 183 new cases with Sibu topping the list of daily infections with 73 cases followed by Miri (22), Bintulu and Kapit (17 each), Julau and Kuching (12 each), Meradong (7), Betong (6), Samarahan (4), Sarikei and Selangau (3 each), Saratok and Sri Aman (2 each), while Belaga, Dalat and Tanjung Manis has one case each.
This increased the State tally of positive cases to 12,885. — DayakDaily
