KUCHING: Meradong in central Sarawak is now a yellow zone after three locally transmitted Covid-19 cases were reported in the district on Friday (Jan 1), says the state disaster management committee.
It said all three cases were family members of a positive case detected on Dec 29 after returning from Kuala Lumpur on Dec 19.
They were admitted to a quarantine centre on Dec 29 and screened on Dec 30, returning positive results on Dec 31.
"One of the cases suffered the loss of smell while another one was coughing. The third case has no symptoms.
"All three cases have been admitted to the isolation ward in Sibu Hospital for treatment," the committee said in a statement.
The Meradong cases are among eight new Covid-19 cases reported in Sarawak on Friday, bringing the state's tally of confirmed cases to 1,125.
Three more locally transmitted cases were reported in Kuching and one in Bintulu, while another case in Miri involved a civil servant returning from his hometown of Banting, Selangor.
The committee said the three Kuching cases were close contacts of one another, while the Bintulu case was a Chinese national who underwent Covid-19 screening prior to returning to his country.
Besides Meradong, Kuching, Bintulu, Sibu and Lawas districts remain yellow zones with between one and four local transmissions in the last 14 days.
The remaining 35 districts in the state are green zones with no locally transmitted cases.
Meanwhile, the committee said all Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOP) implemented last year would remain in force until March 31.
This is in line with the Federal Government's decision to extend the recovery MCO until the end of March.
The committee also reminded Sarawakians to keep complying with the SOP and health advice as local transmissions continue to be reported.
"We must remain vigilant to break the chain of transmission, especially during festive seasons," it said.
