A 40-year-old lecturer is Sarawak’s latest Covid-19 victim, bringing the total number of fatalities in the state to eight.

The man was a lecturer from Kota Samarahan and he died in the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) in Kuching, said state Housing and Local Government Minister Dr Sim Kui Hian at the state’s daily Covid-19 briefing today.

Sim was standing in for Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah in giving the press conference.

However, there appears to be some dispute as Indonesian news portal, Antara, reported the 40-year-old victim as an Indonesian national and a music lecturer at University Malaysia Sarawak’s (Unimas) Faculty of Applied and Creative Arts.

Antara cited confirmation from the Indonesian consulate in Kuching and a statement from a representative of the university’s Applied and Creative Arts Students’ Association.

In Kuala Lumpur, Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the death of the 40-year-old is among the six nationwide who died today.

Dr Noor Hisham said the Indonesian had received treatment at the Sarawak General Hospital since March 20 before his death this afternoon.

Sarawak today recorded 21 positive cases compared to only six yesterday.

Of the 21, 20 are being treated at SGH while one is warded at the Sibu hospital.

The total number of positive cases in the state is now 156.

Dr Sim did not give details on the two deaths in Sarawak reported yesterday – a 47-year-old man in Kuching and 41-year-old woman in Miri.

Families and friends of these two victims took to social media to announce their respective deaths.

The 47-year-old was identified as an an information and communication technology supervisor at the Simunjan district education office, while the 41-year-old woman reportedly worked in one of the Miri’s leading hotels.

Dr Sim said Sarawak now has “a few new clusters, aside from the existing five”.

He also said the spike in the number of positive cases is due to increased testing capabilities at various hospitals in the state and at two Institute of Medical Research-accredited laboratories at SGH and Unimas.

With the ability to do more tests, Dr Sim said Sarawakians who have been in close or casual contact with anyone from the state’s Covid-19 clusters or who have travelled to infected countries since mid-February this year to get themselves screened. – March 31, 2020.