Valentine’s Day riot in Kuching results in one of two new clusters in Sarawak

KUCHING: A fight over a woman on Valentine’s Day here has led to a new Covid-19 cluster, dubbed the Jalan Green Cluster, which has six confirmed cases so far and has required more than 130 police personnel to be quarantined.

It is one of two new clusters announced by the State Disaster Management Committee chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas yesterday.

The other new cluster is the Kejatau Cluster which involves a government office in Sri Aman and has seven cases so far.

Uggah said the two index cases in the Jalan Green Cluster were detected through the screening of detainees arrested by the police on February 14.

“As a result of tracing and screening of contacts to these two index cases, an additional four cases were detected,” he told a press conference of Covid-19 updates.

As of 12pm yesterday, a total of 148 individuals have been screened in this cluster, whereby 30 were found negative and 112 are still awaiting laboratory results.

All six positive cases have been admitted to Sarawak General Hospital for isolation and further treatment.

The police had rounded up nine suspects over the Valentine’s Day riot at 5pm at Jalan Green. Kuching district police chief ACP Awang Din Awang Gani had said the incident was due to a dispute over a woman and feelings of dissatisfaction against each other.

On the Kejatau Cluster, Uggah said it was a workplace cluster involving a government office at

Wisma Persekutuan Phase 2, Jalan Kejatau, in Sri Aman District.

He informed that the index case was a 27-year-old Sarawakian man who has been detected through screening of symptomatic individuals at the Sri Aman Health Clinic.

“As a result of tracing and screening of contacts to the index case, an additional six cases were detected, namely five cases among colleagues and one case involving a family member.

“Four new cases were reported today. As of 12pm today (yesterday), 92 individuals have been screened, whereby seven were found positive and six negative, with 79 still awaiting results,” he said.

All cases have been admitted to Sri Aman Hospital for isolation and further treatment.