Four siblings among five new cases

KUCHING: Sarawak recorded five new locally transmitted positive Covid-19 cases in Kuching district yesterday, four of which involved the children of an infected couple.

Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) said the latest infections raised the state's cumulative number of Covid19 cases to 768.

It said the four children (cases 764 to 767) were three girls and a boy aged between seven and 14 years, who were detected during the second screening on the 10th day when they were instructed to undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine.

“The index case for these cases is Case 719, a citizen who had a history of travelling to a high-risk Covid-19 infection area, namely Sabah, before being screened and was found positive for Covid-19 on Oct 6.

“They (siblings) are also the close contact to Case 730 who was also infected by Case 719. They are the children of Case 719 and Case 730,” it said in a statement.

According to SDMC, the exposure time for the four children was between Oct 2 and Oct 6 when Case 719 was undergoing his quarantine at home.

“The first RT-PCR test was conducted on Oct 6 and all four cases were found to be negative of Covid-19 on Oct 8. They were then admitted to a quarantine centre to undergo the remaining 14-day quarantine order after it was found that three new cases were detected during the first screening on Oct 8.

“These cases were screened a second time on Oct 16 and their RT-PCR test results turned up positive today (yesterday),” it said, adding that all four children are asymptomatic and have been admitted to Sarawak General Hospital (SGH).

On the fifth case, SDMC said Case 768 involved a local man who works as a private technician at a government hospital in Kuching.

“The case had a fever and cold on Oct 15 and underwent Covid-19 screening at a government clinic on Oct 16 where his result turned up positive the next day (Oct 17).

“This case, who was detected through symptomatic individual screening activities, has no history of traveling abroad nor visited high-risk Covid-19 infection areas,” it said, adding that Case 768 also did not have any contact with Covid-19 positive cases.

The committee also said the patient has been admitted to the isolation ward at SGH for further treatment.

“The case is still under investigation to determine the true cause of the infection. Contact tracing for this case is also underway.

“Until the cause of infection of this case is known, this case will be categorised as a local infection case based on his early history of movement.”

On active clusters in the state, SDMC said cases under the Bah Arnab Cluster has now increased following the four new positive cases reported yesterday.

“Up to Oct 18, a total of 40 individuals have been screened where 12 cases were found positive of Covid-19. Eight of these cases were detected through the second screening on Day 10 of the quarantine,” it said, adding that the remaining 28 individuals tested negative.

The other active cluster in Sarawak is the Putra Cluster in Bintulu with six positive cases reported including the index case, said SDMC.

“Up to Oct 17, a total of 190 individuals have been screened where six cases were found positive and 183 individuals had tested negative,” it said.

Meanwhile, SDMC said a Covid-19 patient had recovered yesterday and was allowed to be discharged from Sibu Hospital, bringing the cumulative number of recoveries in the state to 701 or 91.28 per cent out of the overall cases.

It added that 48 patients are currently being treated at hospitals throughout Sarawak – 32 at SGH, eight at Miri Hospital, seven at Bintulu Hospital and one at Sibu Hospital.

On the number of person under investigation (PUI), the committee said ten new cases were recorded yesterday with two cases pending lab test result.

Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu and Lubok Antu districts remain as Covid-19 yellow zones with 36 other districts classified as green zones.

With no new deaths recorded, Sarawak's Covid-19 death toll remained unchanged yesterday at 19.