TWO Sarawak ministers have quarantined themselves for 14 days after coming into contact with a Covid-19 positive person.

Deputy Chief Minister Awang Tengah Ali Hassan and state minister of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Fatimah Abdullah started their two weeks of isolation today after they came into contact with the person at a meeting on March 27.

The person in question, a resident in the Samarahan division, tested positive after their meeting, said Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah said at his daily briefing on the Covid-19 pandemic in Sarawak.

He also refuted news reports and social media posts that Awang Tengah and Fatimah had tested positive.

“The rule is if you have had close contact or casual contact in a meeting, all the people in the meeting are required to be quarantined,” said Uggah, who went into quarantine after coming into contact with the state’s 33rd case.

Uggah, who chairs the state Disaster Management Committee, said seven healthcare workers – five doctors and two nurses – in Sarawak have contracted the virus.

All bar one nurse contracted the virus at Sarawak General Hospital in Kuching.

The other nurse, from the Debak district clinic in Betong, contracted Covid-19 after coming into contact with members of the tabligh cluster.

Eight of the Muslim missionaries, who attended the tabligh gathering in Petaling Jaya last month, tested positive and are now in a quarantine centre in Betong.

In a new directive starting on Saturday, Uggah said everyone entering Sarawak will be automatically placed in a quarantine centre at their point of entry.

They could even be quarantined in hotels at the expense of the state government.

The state reported one more Covid-19 death today, bringing its total number of fatalities to nine.

Uggah did not disclose much detail on the victim but a Facebook posting stated he died last night at around 8.40pm and he was a resident of Desa Ilmu in Samarahan.

However, Uggah did say there were 23 new positive cases detected since yesterday, with 211 people in Sarawak now infected.

Twenty-one of the 23 new cases are being treated at SGH, while the other two are at Sibu hospital. – April, 2, 2020.