Covid-19: Stutong Market Cluster declared over
KUCHING: The Stutong Market Cluster officially ended yesterday a er no new Covid-19 cases were reported within 28 days from the date the last case was reported, said Sarawak Disaster Management Commi ee (SDMC).
It said in a statement that the cluster was first detected when the state Health Department conducted active screening at Stutong Community Market here based on the results of an investigation which found that there were sporadic cases which had a history of visiting the market.
“On July 16, the state Health Department conducted random screening activities on traders in the market. A total of 56 people were selected for Covid-19 screening using the rTPCR test method.
“As a result of the initial screening on July 18, the state Health Department detected two positive Covid-19 cases out of the 56 people screened which led to the Stutong Market Cluster being declared,” it said, adding that on the same day, the market was ordered to close for 14 days for disinfection and to break the chain of Covid-19 infection.
The commi ee said following the closure, all traders and close contacts of positive Covid-19 cases from the market were instructed to undergo screening and to be quarantined at home.
It said the screening activity from July 19 to 21 successfully screened 629 people who were swabbed at the Petra Jaya Health Clinic and from here, five more confirmed positive cases were detected.
“Overall, a total of 685 people comprising all traders at Stutong Market as well as close contact to the cases have been identified.
“The screening results have successfully detected a total of seven Covid-19 cases with the last case detected on July 22,” it said, adding that the last case has recovered and was discharged from the hospital on July 31.
The commi ee also said of the seven cases detected, only one showed early signs and symptoms of Covid-19 infection with no cases admi ed to the intensive care unit or deaths reported from this cluster.
It added that Stutong Community Market was given the green light to operate as usual on Aug 1 in compliance with the market’s standard operating procedure.
SDMC said with the end of this cluster, the state’s remaining active clusters now stood at seven, namely the Engineering Company Cluster which has eight cases; Mambong Cluster (7); Sentosa Cluster (31); Melbourne PUI Cluster (3); Kuching Construction Company Cluster (2); Satok Market Cluster (4); and the latest cluster dubbed Alam Cluster (4).
Meanwhile, SDMC said a Covid19 patient has recovered and was discharged from Sarawak General Hospital yesterday.
“This brings the total number of recoveries to 661 which accounts for 96.36 per cent out of the overall cases,” it added.
It also said six people were still receiving treatment at isolation wards and the death toll in Sarawak remained unchanged at 19 or 2.77 per cent of the total cases.
On the number of person under investigation (PUI), the commi ee said 17 new cases were recorded yesterday of which four were pending lab test results.