Covid-19: Sarawak records 201 new cases, two new clusters detected

SIBU: Sarawak detected two new Covid-19 clusters on Sunday (March 7).

The clusters - dubbed as the Awang cluster and Kiba cluster - were found in Sibu district. It has a combined total of 74 cases.

The State Disaster Management Committee, in a statement said a total of 42 detainees at Sibu Prison who included a woman, tested positive and were linked to the Awang cluster.

"This cluster was identified from an active case detection exercise on March 4 involving all detainees of Sibu Prison. Of the 43 detainees who went for swab tests, 42 of them including the index case were found positive. One of them is a woman detainee," it said.

The Kiba cluster involved a longhouse Rumah Berendam in Durin.

"The index case for this cluster is a 53-year old local woman who had her swab test on Feb 27. She began to have symptoms on Feb 24. Following an active case detection involving 92 longhouse residents, 32 of them tested positive for Covid-19," it said.

Fifty-five of the residents were found negative, while another three are waiting for their results.

Meanwhile, 196 cases had recovered from the disease, making the total to 8,595 or 77.46%.

Of the 201 new cases reported on Sunday, Sibu has 75, followed by Kapit (37), Bau (18), Miri (16), Kuching (12), Betong (9), eight each in Sri Aman and Bintulu (8), Serian (7), Selangau (3), two each in Julau and Lundu, and one each in Samarahan, Pusa, Meradong and Sarikei.