Covid-19: Two deaths, 649 new cases recorded in S’wak

KUCHING: Sarawak recorded two Covid-19 fatalities yesterday, along with 649 new cases, said State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC).

In its daily update, the committee said the latest number brought the state’s death toll to 209.

Adding on, it said of the 649 new cases, 397 cases (61.17 per cent) were detected in Sibu, Bintulu, Miri, Selangau and Pakan. As at yesterday, the state’s cumulative number of Covid-19 positive cases stood at 35,809.

SDMC said one of the death cases involved a local woman who was treated in Sibu Hospital after having tested positive for Covid-19 on April 11.

Her health conditions deteriorated afterwards and she passed away on May 7. The woman had hypertension, said the committee.

The other fatality involved a local man who received treatment in Kapit Hospital after experiencing difficulty in breathing.

“He had a week-long cough before the treatment. His swabtest result came back positive for the virus on May 7.

“His health conditions deteriorated, and he passed away on May 9. The case had comorbidities, including hypertension and dyslipidemia,” said SDMC.

It said of the total 649 new cases, 41 showed signs and symptoms of Covid-19 when doing their swab tests.

Sibu reported the highest number of new cases at 120, followed by Bintulu with 82 cases, Miri with 79 cases, Selangau with 65 cases, Pakan with 51 cases, and Kuching with 49 cases.

Districts that recorded new cases below 50 were Kapit with 36 cases, Kanowit (28 cases), Betong (17 cases), Beluru (17 cases), Pusa (15 cases), Subis (14 cases), Belaga (13 cases), Samarahan (12 cases) and Sebauh (10 cases).

Districts reporting singledigit number of Covid-19 cases were Meradong with eight cases; Song with five cases; Bau, Mukah, Tatau, Matu and Saratok with four cases each; Sri Aman with three cases; and Serian, Limbang, Lundu, Julau and Sarikei with one case each.

SDMC said 576 of the total new cases had been ordered to undergo quarantine.

It added that one of the new cases was an imported case from Oman, three other new cases involved individuals who returned to Sarawak from other states in the country, and two other new cases involved individuals who had undertaken inter-district travels.

On new recoveries and discharges, SDMC said Sarawak recorded 538 cases yesterday.

SDMC said this brought the cumulative number of recovery and discharged cases in Sarawak to 28,923 – or 80.77 per cent of the total figure.