EIGHTY-THREE new cases from just two clusters – Jalan Puncak Borneo in Kuching and Tembok in Sri Aman – was the reason for Sarawak’s high number of infections today. The state recorded 489 new cases, the state disaster management committee stated in its daily report.

It said there were 47 new cases linked to the outbreak among police cadets at their Jalan Puncak Borneo training school, some 22km from Kuching, and 76 among prisoners at the Sri Aman prison, 132km from the city.

The 47 were close contacts to the 61 cadets, including the index case. All are now in quarantine.

In the Tembok cluster, the 76 were confirmed positive on their second test.

The disaster committee stated there was no evidence to prove that the 47 had posed a threat to the local community as they were already ordered into quarantine before they were confirmed to be positive.

It also said the Tembok cluster too was under control and of no threat to the local community as the outbreak was confined within the prison walls.

The cases in the Jalan Puncak Borneo cluster make up more than half of the 99 new cases reported in Kuching, while the 76 in the Tembok cluster account for all the new cases in the Sri Aman district.

Elsewhere, there were 75 new cases reported in Sibu, 50 in Miri, Bintulu (48), Beluru (32), Samarahan (25), Sarikei (17), Kapit and Mukah (nine each), Belaga and Meradong (eight each), Serian (seven), Saratok (six), Subis and Marudi (five each), Bau (three), Julau and Matu (two each), and one each in Lubok Antu, Pakan and Kabong to bring the state’s cumulative number of infections to 21,448.

Asymptomatic patients formed the majority of the 489 cases, the disaster committee said, with only 23 who were found positive actually showing symptoms of the infection prior to getting tested.

The 436 asymptomatic patients were those who have been ordered to go into quarantine and take the test because they had been identified to have been in close contacts to positive cases.

The disaster committee also said the current trend was showing that the infection was shifting from the rural areas to the urban as reflected in the new cases reported in the major towns of Sibu, Bintulu and Miri.

On the spread in the rural areas, a total of 449 longhouses have been ordered locked down since January, the committee stated, with 75 still in lock down.

The order for the rest have been lifted.

The five Covid-19-linked deaths today were also the highest single-day figure. It raised the state’s toll to 133.

The deaths were that of a 55-year-old Saratok man linked to the Disso cluster who died in the Sarikei hospital, a 77-year-old woman who died in the Sarawak general hospital in Kuching, another 77-year-old who died in the Sibu hospital, and a 78-year-old and a 59 year-old in the Bintulu hospital. – April 14, 2021.