One of the neighbourhoods under Tiong Hua Zone 7 in Sibu, which has recorded high number of positive Covid-19 cases.
SIBU: Sarawak is still recording high daily number of positive Covid-19 cases due to the different approaches used in detecting infected individuals, says Assistant Minister of Local Government and Housing Dr Annuar Rapa’ee.
His statement on this is made in response to the question, posed by many quarters, on why Sarawak still has high number of positive cases when the statistics in other states are showing downward trends.
According to the assistant minister, who is the coordinator of Sibu Division Disaster Management Committee (SDDMC), the authorities have been conducting swab tests on close-contacts of positive cases here, apart from mobilising active case detection (ACD) exercises.
“Let me explain based on today’s (yesterday’s) cases. From 163 cases recorded statewide, only 17 – or 10.43 per cent were symptomatic.
“If we’re only going after those with symptoms, we’d only have 17 cases, which is very, very low.
“But we are going to the ground and conducting ACDs because we don’t want any positive case that is asymptomatic to go out and infect others.
“That is our approach in Sarawak. This is why we still have Covid-19 Quarantine and Low-Risk Treatment Centres (PKRCs) to place the asymptomatic positive cases,” he said during his daily Facebook Live session yesterday.
Dr Annuar said in Sibu alone, there were 455 Covid-19 patients quarantined at the PKRCs, adding that these asymptomatic cases might not be in a life-threatening condition, but they could still infect other people.
On the fluctuating statistics for Covid-19 cases in Sibu, he said this could be attributed to many factors.
Sibu recorded 149 cases on Monday, but the number dropped to only 17 cases yesterday.
“We’re hoping to see it (number of positive cases) continue going down, particularly after we have concluded the ACD in Sibu.
“I would still emphasise on the importance of obeying the standard operating procedures (SOP) because the number of cases being reported in two-digits could indicate that our situation is improving. However, we’re not there yet – it’s just the beginning, so do not spoil it by disregarding the SOP,” he pointed out.
Earlier in the session, Dr Annuar disclosed that three positive cases were detected from 422 samples taken during the ACD on Tiong Hua Zone 7 here, which ran from March 6 to 8.
He said the percentage of Covid-19-positive turnout from these samples was projected at 0.7 per cent.
“We’re still not satisfied even with the very-low positivity rate, because10 per cent of those from this zone who are required to undergo swab-test still have not done so.
“Their names have been submitted to the private medical centre, where the test is conducted.
“I would like to urge them to get tested to make sure that they are not Covid-19 carriers,” he added.
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