Covid-19: Kuching loses green zone status after two cases detected

KUCHING: Two days after turning green, Kuching is now a yellow zone again after reporting two local Covid-19 cases on Friday (July 10).

This brings the tally of confirmed cases in Sarawak to 575, the state disaster management committee said in a statement.

It said one of the new cases was a Sarawakian man who sought treatment at the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) here on July 5 after suffering breathing problems and tiredness since July 1.

"The patient, who has diabetes and high blood pressure, was admitted to the isolation ward.

"His polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test came back positive on July 9," the committee said.

The second new case is a Sarawakian woman working in an engineering consultant firm here who was admitted to SGH on July 7 for chest pain and a dry cough.

"She tested positive from an antibody rapid test kit in an initial Covid-19 screening on July 7.

"Her PCR test also returned positive on July 9," it said.

The committee said both cases were likely to be local transmissions as they had no history of overseas travel.

The source of their infection is being investigated while contact tracing has been carried out.

"For the man, his contacts are his immediate family members only.

"Meanwhile, 30 contacts of the woman have been identified and instructed to quarantine themselves and go for screening," the committee said, adding that her workplace had been closed temporarily for disinfection.