A 62-YEAR-OLD Sibu man is the latest person to die from rabies in Sarawak.

Failure to follow up on his anti-rabies booster shots cost him his life, Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah said when announcing the state’s 23rd rabies death today.

There have been 24 cases reported since the outbreak of the disease in July 2017 and the sole survivor is reported to have been badly disabled by the infection.

The Sibu man died Tuesday evening while in intensive care in the Sibu hospital, Uggah, who is state disaster management committee chairman, said in a Covid-19 briefing this afternoon.

The man was bitten in his thigh by a relative’s pet dog in Jalan Sentosa Barat on May 12.

Uggah said the man took all the recommended precautions by washing the bite wound thoroughly with soap for 15 minutes and then seeking treatment at a government medical facility.

“However, he failed to follow up for the much needed booster shot.”

Uggah said the complete vaccination regime for rabies is three doses.

He again reminded all dog bite victims that they are required to complete the three vaccination doses to be protected.

Ten areas in Sibu have been declared rabies positive. The house where the man was bitten is in the such a zone.

To date, 64 areas in the state have been declared rabies-infected.

On Covid-19, Uggah said the Health Department has issued a notice of compound to an infected Miri woman, who failed to declare she had travelled to Tunisia on her E-Health declaration form on arrival in Miri.

The compound for failure to truthfully declare her health status is believed to be RM1,000.

Uggah warned more severe action will be taken against the woman if she fails to settle the compound within the stipulated time.

The woman flew back to Malaysia on June 20 via the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and while in transit, she was given a RTK (rapid test kit) antigen test, results of which came back negative.

She was then randomly picked for the more conclusive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab test, a standard operating procedure (SOP) in KLIA for transiting passengers, including Malaysians.

Instead of waiting for the result expected the next day, the woman, who was asymptomatic, boarded a connecting flight home to Miri.

On arrival, the E-Health declaration form she submitted to airport officials did not indicate that she had been to Tunisia in the past 30 days. She was therefore treated as a returning Sarawakian from Kuala Lumpur to Miri and not subject to quarantine requirements.

Miri health authorities were informed that her PCR swab test was positive for Covid-19 the following day.

She has since been picked up and admitted to the Miri hospital for observation. – June 26, 2020.