KUCHING: Sarawak recorded two new Covid-19 cases in Kuching on Saturday, with one dead.
The Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), in a statement, said the 576th case was a local 72-year-old man who had diabetes and hypertension.
“He had received early treatment at the Borneo Medical Centre (BMC) Kuching on July 9 as he had been having fever since July 7.
“He was referred to the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) and was admitted into the isolation ward. The RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) Covid-19 laboratory test found that he was positive on July 10,” SDMC said.
It reported that the patient’s condition deteriorated and he passed away the same day, with the cause of death being multi-organ failure due to pneumonia and Covid-19.
It added that the case was a Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (Sari) case and likely a local infection as the patient had no history of overseas travel.
“Contact tracing is still being carried out and the cause of infection is also still under investigation,” said SDMC.
With this case, the total number of Covid-19 deaths in Sarawak rose to 18 to date.
Meanwhile, the second positive case reported on Saturday (case 577), was an imported case involving a local man who had just returned from the United Kingdom.
“His Rapid Test Kit (RTK) Antigen screening test at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on July 9 was negative. When he arrived at the Kuching International Airport, he was brought directly to a hotel to be quarantined and an RT-PCR sample was taken on the second day,” SDMC said.
The RT-PCR test results showed that he was Covid-19 positive and he was therefore taken immediately to SGH for further treatment.
The committee said there was no new recovery case or cases discharged from hospitals on Saturday, with the total number of recovered and discharged cases remaining at 552 or 95.67 percent.
Seven individuals were still receiving treatment at hospital isolation wards, of which five are in SGH Kuching and one each in Sibu Hospital and Bintulu Hospital.
“Thirteen new person-under-investigation (PUI) cases have been reported and two cases are still awaiting laboratory results,” it said.
SDMC said that 60 persons-under-surveillance (PUS) had checked into hotels on Saturday to undergo quarantine, bringing the total number of PUS at 11 hotels to 474, while 18,317 PUS had completed their quarantine period.
For enquiries on Covid-19 matters, the following numbers can be contacted: 082-443 991, 082-513 340, 082-649 813, 082-536 512, and 082-646 634.
