A BIRTHDAY party has triggered the latest Covid-19 cluster in Sarawak.

Some 22 people who have been tested positive in the Jalan Lilin cluster in the northern oil town of Miri – guests at the party or people who have come into contact with the guests – are from as far as Limbang, the state disaster management committee said in its daily update on the pandemic in the state.

The state health department has declared the cluster in the prime residential estate of Taman Tunku a community cluster.

To date 262 people have been screened, the disaster committee said.

The committee added that the positive cases have either been warded into the Miri or Limbang hospitals or to the Low-Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centre (PKRC) in the two towns.

People that the health department had identified to have come in contact with the positive cases and pose a possible risk have also been ordered to undergo quarantine.

Currently, there are 83 active clusters in Sarawak.

Of the 83, 10 recorded a total of 102 new cases today.

There were 395 new cases reported in the state today with 64% or 254 cases coming from four districts – Miri, Sri Aman, Kuching and Bintulu.

The Jalan Lilin cluster pushed Miri to the top of the infection ladder with 88 cases.

Sri Aman came in a distant second with 64 cases, Kuching (57) and Bintulu (45).

Elsewhere, there were 27 new cases in Sibu, Tebedu (25), Mukah (17), Samarahan (16), Bau (9), Belaga (6), Serian and Pusa (five each), Meradong, Sebauh and Sarikei (four each), Kanowit and Lawas (three each), Subis, Lundu, Bukit Mabong, Tatau and Saratok (two each), with Selangau, Kapit and Pakan (one each).

The disaster committee said of the 395 new cases, only 21 showed symptoms of the infection before tests confirming that they were positive.

However, it added that the majority of them – 308 cases – were of people who are already in quarantine as people who have come in contact with positive cases. – May 13, 2021.