KUCHING: Twenty-five new positive cases of Covid-19 were detected in Sarawak on today (July 28), bringing the total number to 675.
This was the third highest recorded daily cases in the state after 32 and 28 cases were detected on April 1 and 3 respectively.
State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said of the 25 cases, 21 were detected in Kuching, two in Serian, and one each in Samarahan and Lundu.
“The first two cases involved a foreign couple who had returned from the United Kingdom on July 23 and entered the state via Kuching International Airport (KIA) on July 25.
“They had undergone rT-PCR testing at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), which came back negative. rT-PCR testing during their quarantine here came back positive on July 27,” he said during the Covid-19 daily update today (July 28).
Uggah noted that the third and fourth cases were also imported, involving a local female student who had returned from South Korea and a local man who had returned from South America.
Both cases were asymptomatic, and tested positive while undergoing their compulsory 14-day quarantine.
“One case involved a local man with a history of returning from Kuala Lumpur on July 14. The case was randomly selected to undergo screening on the 10th day on July 25 at a government health clinic and rT-PCR screening tested positive for Covid-19 on July 27. The case also has a history of travel to Miri and Sibu on June 29 and July 24. The case did not show any signs and symptoms.
“One case involved a health worker in Lundu. The case was swabbed and tested positive for Covid-19 on the same day. The cause of the infection is still under investigation and contact tracing of this case is still underway,” Uggah said.
He added that there were 15 new cases reported involving contact screening to active clusters.
“Nine cases are cases detected as a result of contact tracing involving cases that have been identified in the Sentosa Cluster. They consist of six men and three women involving a health worker, two private employees at the facility and six social contacts. All of them did not show any signs and symptoms.
“Four cases involved contact to positive cases that have been identified within the Kuching Engineering Cluster. They are workmates and family members (father and son) of Case 631. All of them are local citizens aged between six and 72.
“One case is a citizen who was screened because he is a close contact on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching on July 15, a flight involving the Melbourne PUI Cluster,” he reported.
Uggah revealed that there were four new cases detected through screenings done in markets throughout Kuching.
“All of them are traders from the Satok market, who underwent screening on July 25 and 26. The cause and tracking of all contacts in these cases are being actively carried out,” he assured.
Additionally, one new case had recovered and discharged from hospital, bringing the cumulative total to 564, or 83.56 per cent.
“Ninety-two individuals are still receiving treatment at hospital isolation wards and the total number of deaths remains at 19, or 2.81 per cent,” he said.
He added that 39 new person-under-investigation (PUI) cases were reported while three were still awaiting laboratory results.
