Covid-19: Sarawak records 163 new cases, most of them asymptomatic

KUCHING: Sarawak reported 163 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday (March 9), the majority being asymptomatic, and one new death.

The state disaster management committee said the latest fatality was an 83-year-old woman who was brought to Mukah Hospital after being found unconscious at home on March 2.

"A PCR test done on March 3 came back positive. The case had comorbidities of hypertension and dyslipidemia (elevated lipids in the blood).

"The case was also a contact of the Buloh cluster in Selangau and the death has been classified as brought in dead," the committee said in a statement.

According to the statement, only 17 of the new cases showed symptoms while the patients underwent screening.

It said 40 of the new cases were detected through screening of active clusters while 92 were contacts of positive cases.

"There was one imported case involving an individual returning from the United States.

"Eleven cases were individuals with symptoms who were screened at health facilities and 19 cases were asymptomatic individuals who went for screening," the committee added.

It said Betong district recorded the highest number of cases with 37, followed by Miri (25), Bintulu (23), Sibu (17), Subis (15), Kuching (12), Julau (nine), Asajaya and Kapit (six each), Sarikei (four), Pusa (three), Samarahan (two) and Bau, Kanowit, Tatau and Dalat (one each), making a total of 11,511 cases in the state to date.

The committee also said 2,082 or 18.09% of all cases in the state occurred in longhouses.

It said those cases were detected among 32,380 individuals in longhouses who were screened, yielding a positive detection rate of 6.43%.

"A total of 279 longhouses in Sarawak were locked down to contain the spread of Covid-19.

"As of March 9,68 longhouses are still in lockdown while 211 have been released after the spread of Covid-19 was found to be under control," the committee said.