Dennis (third left) attends the woman’s burial at BEM cemetery in Lambir.
MIRI (June 29): The Telang Usan constituency has recorded a second Covid-19 death involving the Penan community.
Assemblyman Dennis Ngau said the woman hailed from Long Sait in Baram.
On June 12, Telang Usan recorded its first Covid-19 fatality involving the Penan community, when another woman died due to the virus.
When contacted today, Dennis confirmed the latest case involved a 32-year-old, who died while she was being transported from Kejin camp to Long Lama clinic on June 25.
“The deceased was feeling sick at Kejin camp where she and her husband had been working. I was told that they thought that it was just a normal sickness, so they brought her down for treatment at Long Lama clinic.
“Unfortunately, the woman died on their way to Long Lama clinic. Staff at the clinic then carried out a swab test on her, which later came back positive for Covid-19,” said Dennis.
He said the body was later sent to Miri Hospital for another Covid-19 test, which was also found to be positive yesterday (June 28).
“Following this, her husband had reached out to me yesterday, asking if I can claim his wife’s body on his behalf as they are currently under lockdown at Kejin camp.
“I had claimed the body and we had just come back from her burial at Borneo Evangelical Mission (BEM) cemetery in Lambir,” he said.
Dennis said so far 10 others have tested positive for Covid-19 at Kejin Camp, which had been placed under lockdown since last Friday.
Many Penans living near Kejin camp, including from Long Tepen, Long Lunyim, Long Kevok, and Long Luteng had also been tested positive for Covid-19 over the last two weeks.
Dennis pointed out that his constituents, in particular from the Penan community, are still ignorant about the virus.
“Some of them have shown symptoms like fever, flu, and coughing but they regard it as normal sickness.
“Hence, I would like to call upon all my constituents to immediately report themselves to nearby clinics if they start to develop symptoms or if they suspect they may have been exposed to Covid-19,” he said.
As of yesterday (June 28), four Penan settlements and three camps operating in Telang Usan had been placed under lockdown.
They are Long Kevok, Long Luteng, Long Tepen, Long Lunyim, Kejin Camp, Sambas Camp, and Layun Camp.
Yesterday, the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) declared the Long Luteng cluster as one of five new clusters in the state after 44 from the area tested positive for Covid-19.