KUCHING: A new Covid-19 cluster linked to the recent Chinese New Year celebration has emerged in Sarawak, says the state disaster management committee.
It said infections in the Jalan Ho Pin cluster were believed to have spread through festive visits to the homes of relatives and friends in Samarahan, Serian and Kuching from Feb 11 to 14.
"The index case is a 22-year-old woman who tested positive on Feb 18 after developing symptoms.
"Further investigations and contact tracing yielded 13 more positive cases for a total of 14 confirmed cases in the cluster to date," the committee said in a statement on Thursday (Feb 25).
So far 120 individuals have been screened, with 41 testing negative and 65 awaiting results.
The committee also said Sarawak reported 219 new cases on Thursday, taking the state's tally of confirmed cases to 8,869.
There were also two more deaths in Sibu, bringing the number of fatalities to 78.
Of the new cases, Sibu district recorded the highest number with 80, followed by Kapit (26), Bintulu (25), Kuching (18), Meradong (17), Miri (12), Samarahan (11), Serian (10), Selangau (eight), Sri Aman (five), Saratok (three) and Kanowit, Sarikei, Bukit Mabong and Betong with one each.
There were 248 new recoveries, bringing the total to 6,484 or 73.1% of all cases to date.
There were also 2,275 active cases receiving treatment in hospitals and low-risk quarantine and treatment centres in the state.
