THE five locally transmitted Covid-19 cases detected in Kuching in the last 24 hours have pushed the district from being a yellow zone to an orange one as its cumulative figure topped 25 in the last 14 days.

There were 10 cases detected in the district today – 16 throughout the state – but only local transmissions counted in the Health Ministry’s health safety status of an area.

In the ministry’s four colour-coded categories, an area is red when it registers more than 41 cases within two weeks, orange (21-40), yellow (1-20) and green (0).

The adjacent Samarahan district lost its green zone status when it recorded one local transmission today while the Miri, Sibu, Bintulu, Meradong, Bukit Mabong, Lawas and Sri Aman districts remain in the yellow zone.

The state’s 31 other districts are green.

Of the five locally transmitted cases detected in Kuching, four are from the Keranji Tabuan cluster while the other is from the Stutong cluster.

The four brings the total number of people infected in the Keranji Tabuan cluster to 10 after screening 62 people who have come in close contact with patients.

Sixteen were found negative for the virus and the result for 36 others are still pending.

The one case from the Stutong cluster brings the number of infections there to 12 to date and the number could increase as 34 people who have been screened after coming into contact with the infected are still awaiting their test result.

The number of infections in the state’s two other active clusters, the Bah Sayap in Miri, rose to nine with the detection of three more today, while there was no increase in the Mador cluster in Meradong. – January 8, 2021.