A 67-YEAR-OLD man is the latest person in Sarawak to have contracted Covid-19 from a college student, who has so far infected six people of a Bintulu family.

The student was tested positive in a screening last Thursday after the state disaster management committee ordered all students who had returned home, but have not been quarantined or screened, to take one.

Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah Embas said in his daily briefing today that the man was asymptomatic but did not state the patient’s relationship to the student or the other four victims in the family.

He was detected via close contact tracing by health officials on the college student and the other four victims.

The man is the 566th person to have contracted Covid-19 in the state.

While 17 people had died from the infection in the state, Sarawak’s recovery rate stands at 94.5%.

One more patient has been discharged from the Sarawak general hospital (SGH) where he was being treated.

Uggah said, with today’s case, there are now 14 people undergoing treatment at the SGH in Kuching and the Bintulu hospital.

He said the Simunjan district had been declared the state’s 37th green zone today after having no infections reported in the last 14 days.

Only three of the state’s 40 districts – Kuching, Samarahan and Bintulu – are still in the yellow zone.

A yellow zone area is an area that has 40 active Covid-19 cases while the red zone with 41 and above.

Meanwhile, police have arrested the Indonesian couple who went into hiding after they were tested positive for the infection.

State police chief Aidi Ismail said in a statement that the couple were “found at the roadside” of a new housing area on Jalan Matang Baru on the outskirts of the city at 11.15pm last night.

The couple, whom police named as Darussalam and Hassanah, have been sent to SGH for treatment.

He said “further action” would be taken against the couple for running off.

They were tested positive from a screening their employers had ordered them to take at a private hospital on Tuesday.

Knowing they were infected, they ran from their workers’ quarters at Petra Jaya on Wednesday evening, leading to a manhunt. – June 19, 2020.