KUCHING: A new Covid-19 cluster in Sarawak has been linked to a group of men arrested for a fight on Valentine's Day.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas said the index cases of the Jalan Green cluster were two of the detainees who were screened following their arrest on Feb 14.
He said the tracing and screening of contacts resulted in four more positive cases for a total of six confirmed cases in the cluster to date.
"As of noon on Feb 19,148 individuals had been screened of which 30 tested negative and 112 are awaiting results," he said at the state disaster management committee's briefing here on Friday (Feb 19).
He added that some 130 police personnel were under quarantine after being linked to the cluster.
The police had arrested nine men for getting into a fight at about 5pm at Jalan Green here on Feb 14.
Kuching district police chief Asst Comm Awang Din Awang Gani was reported saying that the incident was caused by a dispute over a woman and feelings of dissatisfaction among the suspects.
Uggah also said a second new cluster identified in Sarawak on Friday was linked to a government office at Jalan Kejatau in Sri Aman.
He said the Kejatau cluster had seven confirmed cases so far after 92 individuals were screened.
"The index case is a 27-year-old man who tested positive after being screened at the Sri Aman health clinic," he said.
He also said Sarawak reported 199 new cases and two more deaths on Friday.
The latest fatalities were a 59-year-old man and 83-year-old woman who died at Sibu Hospital on Feb 18 and 19 respectively, taking the state's death toll to 69.
Of the new cases, Sibu continued to report the highest number with 126, followed by Kapit (15), Sri Aman and Bintulu (13 each), Kuching (seven), Miri (six), Dalat and Kanowit (five each), Meradong (four), Subis (two) and Samarahan, Serian and Beluru (one each).
The state's tally of confirmed cases now stands at 7,624.
