A man undergoes a Covid-19 swab test. – File photo
KUCHING (Mar 18): A Covid-19 cluster has been declared at the Semuja Immigration Detention Depot for illegal immigrants in Serian with 99 cases detected so far, said the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC).
The Semuja Immigration Depot Cluster is one of two identified by the State Health Department today with the other being the Sungai Atap Cluster in Meradong, which has 19 positive cases.
SDMC chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said all confirmed cases at the immigration depot were detainees.
“This cluster was detected when the Serian Division Health Department conducted screening on all personnel of the Malaysian Immigration Department (MID) and detainees at the depot after receiving information that there were infected individuals among illegal immigrants that were deported through the Tebedu International Gateway at the Sarawak-Kalimantan Border, Indonesia on March 11,” he told a press conference today.
He said preliminary screening results found that the immigration personnel who accompanied the deported illegal immigrants were negative.
“Nevertheless, further screenings were conducted on all MID personnel and detainees at Semuja Immigration Depot to ascertain the cause of the infection,” he said.
He pointed out that as a result of screenings conducted on March 16 and 17, a total of 99 detainees had tested positive for Covid-19 out of the 584 individuals who were screened.
“A total of 185 had tested negative while another 300 are pending lab test results.
“So far, those who had tested positive were detainees and do not involve any MID personnel,” he said.
He pointed out that all 99 cases have been isolated and admitted at the quarantine and low-risk patients treatment centre (PKRC) set up at the depot itself for the purpose of isolation and further treatment.
On the Sungai Atap Cluster, Uggah, who is also Deputy Chief Minister, said the community cluster involved a longhouse located at Sungai Atap, Ulu Strass, in Meradong district, Sarikei.
“This cluster is also a community cluster involving inter-district travel where the source of infection was from Sibu district,” he said.
He said the index case for this cluster was a 36-year-old Sarawakian woman who was detected positive after being screened at the Lanang Health Clinic in Sibu as instructed by her employer.
“The case was swabbed using the RT-PCR test on March 3 and her results came back positive on March 5,” he added.
Uggah also said further investigation and detection of close contact to this index case had found another 18 positive cases.
“A total of 148 individuals have been screened where in addition to the 19 positive cases, 125 had tested negative and another four are pending lab test results,” he said.
He added that all 19 cases have been admitted to Sarikei Hospital and PKRC Sarikei for isolation and further treatment.
With the addition of the two new clusters, Sarawak now has 34 active clusters of which eight recorded an increase in the number of positive cases.
“The Jalan Merpati Cluster in Miri recorded the highest number of increase in positive cases with 28 today, bringing the total number of cases under this cluster to 79.
“A total of 350 individuals have been screened where 212 have tested negative and 59 are pending lab test results,” said Uggah.
He also said the Hilir Cluster in Sibu recorded an increase of three cases bringing its total to 40 while the Sanyan Cluster in Sibu recorded two additional cases resulting in 21 cases thus far.
“The Awang Cluster in Sibu and Tunggal Cluster in Julau also recorded two new cases today resulting in their overall cases now standing at 54 and 49 respectively,” he said.
He added that the Sena Cluster in Miri, Kiba Cluster in Sibu and Emperoh Jambu Cluster in Kuching each recorded one new case, bringing the clusters’ cases now to 80, 40 and 325 respectively.
A total of 24 clusters remain active with no new cases recorded.
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