KUCHING: Sarawak yesterday recorded eight more positive Covid-19 cases including one in Limbang, resulting in the categorisation of the division as a yellow zone.
The other new positive Covid-19 cases were from Kuching (4) and Samarahan (3). This brings the total number of positive Covid-19 cases so far in Sarawak to 496.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said that the Limbang case proved how important the state’s quarantine policies were.
“The Limbang patient found to be Covid-19 positive had visited Brune and upon returning, he was quarantined. That is our standard operating procedure (SOP) when Sarawakians come back from other countries; they have to undergo a quarantine of 14 days.
“In this case, he was screened on the tenth day and found to be positive,” he said at the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) conference on the Covid-19 daily update yesterday.
He pointed out that if the quarantine SOP had not been implemented, the patient could have spread the virus. “So, I hope the public appreciates why we have to enforce a quarantine order on certain categories of Sarawakians coming back into the state.”
On April 24, Limbang was declared a green zone as it had not recorded any new positive Covid-19 cases for the past 14 days.
On another development, Uggah, who is also SDMC chairman, said that 11 cases had recovered and been discharged from hospitals; six were from Sarawak General Hospital (SGH), four from Miri Hospital and one from Sibu Hospital. The total number of discharged cases in the state was 204 as of yesterday.
“The number of new person under investigation (PUI) cases reported today is 123 and the total number of PUIs still awaiting laboratory results is 111,” he said.
Uggah thanked SGH and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) staff for working tirelessly to ensure the turnaround time for testing was shorter. He said the waiting time for laboratory results in most cases was not more than 24 hours.
The deputy chief minister revealed that other healthcare personnel in Kuching had also tested positive for Covid-19.
He said that as of yesterday, 270 cases were currently undergoing treatment at hospitals in Sarawak, with six cases in intensive care unit (ICU), and four being intubated.
“Of the identified clusters, four new cases were reported from the Kuching Conference cluster, two from small clusters, and one from sporadic cases while one was still being investigated,” he said.
Regarding the 42 quarantine centres in the state, he said that there were 95 new admissions yesterday, bringing the total number of occupants to 1,653.
On Sarawakians returning from overseas, West Malaysia, Sabah, and Labuan, he said 63 new persons under surveillance (PUS) had checked into hotels, while 61 had completed their quarantine periods and were allowed to return home.
According to Uggah, the public’s compliance to the movement control order (MCO) was 97 percent.
The total number of positive Covid-19 cases in Sarawak so far is 496.
