THERE is a sudden spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in Sarawak, with four reported today – two of them Indonesian nationals who have since gone into hiding.

The other two are Sarawakians – a 33-year-old with an event management company and a 71-year-old housewife, state disaster management committee chairman Douglas Uggah Embas said today.

All the four cases detected are in the Kuching district and were detected in screenings conducted at one of the city’s private hospitals.

Uggah said the two Indonesian nationals were sent for screening by their employer as part of their work permit application requirement.

He said while health authorities were in the midst of tracing the source of their infection and people they had come in contact with, they bolted.

They have yet to be apprehended.

Postings on social media claimed the two were a male and a female who were hired to work on a project adjacent to the state legislative building in Petra Jaya.

The incident again elicited another round of warnings to employers of foreign workers from Uggah.

Uggah, a deputy chief minister, said the duo’s employer must report to the police anyone he suspects or knows of anyone sheltering the two individuals.

As the number of infections among Indonesian construction site workers continues to rise, Uggah ordered all employers and project developers to send their workers, particularly foreigners, for screening.

On the two Sarawakians, he said the 33-year-old took the screening voluntarily “to determine if he is infected” while the housewife was detected during the mandatory pre-surgery screening.

She was scheduled for an eye surgery.

Health authorities have already begun probing into their source of infection and to screen the people they had come in contact with.

The four cases today bring the number of cases in the state to 565.

Currently, there are 12 active Covid-19 cases in Sarawak being treated at the Kuching general hospital and the Bintulu hospital. – June 18, 2020.