A NEW cluster has been detected in rural Sarawak after 20 people were found positive today in the district of Sebauh in Bintulu.

They were infected from the index case who tested positive last Friday.

The 21 infections, including the index case from the Bukit Sekubong cluster turned the district from a yellow zone to orange.

The state disaster management committee said as of noon today, 32 people in the district have been screened, with three found negative and another eight waiting for their test results.

The Bukit Sekubong cluster brings the number of active clusters in the state to seven.

The other six clusters are Jelita and Bah Sayap in Miri; the largest Pasai in Sibu; Keranji Tabuan and Stutong in Kuching and Modaor in Meradong.

Of the 146 positive cases detected in the state in the last 24 hours, 92 were in Sibu, Kanowit (12), Miri (11), Beluru (3), Kuching (3), Dalat (2) and one each in Saratok, Bintulu, Limbang to bring the state’s cumulative total to 1,574 cases.

Of the 92 cases detected in Sibu, 83 were linked to the Pasai cluster,

The 12 detected in the Kanowit district, some 43km from Sibu, were all linked to the Pasai cluster.

The 111 cases linked to the Pasai cluster bring the number of people infected there to 194.

To date, the state Health Department has screened 1,243 people, with 800 negative and the result for 249 still pending.

While Sebauh has slipped to orange (21 to 40 cases detected within a two-week period), Limbang district lost its green zone status, with the colour turning to yellow following the detection of one case today.

Kuching, Sibu and Miri districts are already in the red and the reimposition of the 14-day recovery movement-control order announced yesterday bans travel in and out of these districts.

Beluru, Dalat, Selangau, Sebauh, Samarahan, Sri Aman, Bukit Mabong, Meradong and Bintulu remained in the yellow zone (one to 20 cases detected in a two-week period).

Twenty-seven districts are left in the green zone. – January 12, 2021.