THE Sarawak disaster management committee has ordered the police to investigate allegations that an index case of a coronavirus cluster had broken a quarantine order to travel 300km back to his hometown.

“I have asked the police to do a thorough investigation,” Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah said at a daily Covid-19 press briefing in Kuching today.

A 50-year-old civil servant stationed in Kapit is reported to be the index case in the Jalan Muhibbah Covid-19 cluster in the rural town of Betong. 

He is believed to have breached quarantine in Kapit to return to his hometown of Betong, allegedly removing his tracker wristband before making the trip during the Chinese New Year break.

Back in his hometown, he hosted a barbecue on February 10 at a private residence in Jalan Muhibbah.

On February 14, he started to show symptoms of Covid-19 infection and tested positive for the virus two days later.

When health authorities went to his home to take him into quarantine, he was said to have gone to a cockfight.

Uggah, who chairs the disaster committee, said five more new cases were detected in the cluster in the last 24 hours, bringing the number of infections linked to the cluster to 123.

Over 2,000 people who are known to have come into contact with the index case have been ordered to undergo screening.

Angry Betong folk have named and shamed the index case by uploading his photo onto the various social media platforms. – March 3, 2021.