SARAWAK is preparing three more sites in the Samarahan division for use as quarantine centres, as the state braces itself for more Covid-19 cases.

State Disaster Management Committee chairman Douglas Uggah disclosed today the Institute for Rural Advancement (Infra) Sarawak campus, the National Institute of Public Administration (Intan) Sarawak region and the Tun Abdul Razak teacher training college are being prepped as quarantine centres in the event of a spill over from Sarawak General Hospital and the Sarawak public health college in Kota Sentosa.

Reportedly, the college can only accommodate 60 people.

As of 3pm today, the state has 340 people in quarantine awaiting their test result, with 28 people added in the past 24 hours.

“We need them in the event we have the spill over,” Uggah said after inspecting the three proposed sites that are 16-20km from Kuching.

Uggah, who is also Sarawak deputy chief minister, said the Infra campus could be ready in three days’ time, adding that only people awaiting test results would be sent there, not positive cases.

Uggah also said the quarantine sites would be “guarded around the clock” and “completely out of bounds” to visitors.

Earlier, the state has prepared the Kemuyang Youth Camp in Sibu, the Petronas Games Village in Miri and Similajau National Parks in Bintulu as additional quarantine centres in those parts of the state.

Sarawak recorded one new case today. While Uggah did not mention the person’s identity, the Lodge kindergarten, in a statement, confirmed its deputy principal had tested positive.

Fifty people in Sarawak have now been confirmed to be positive with the virus since March 13, when the state’s first three positive cases were reported. A 60-year-old pastor has since died.

Two of the case were men who had attended the tabligh gathering at the Sri Petaling Mosque in Petaling Jaya with one of them infecting his wife.

Uggah said the latest statistics showed no signs of abatement, with 900 cases reported nationwide as of today. – March 19, 2020.