COVID-19 clusters from the Gawai Dayak rice harvest festival slightly more than two weeks ago are starting to emerge in Sarawak, with three new clusters linked to the festival announced today.

The state disaster management committee said the Gawai clusters were at Kg Sebandi Hilir in Lundu, about 52km from Kuching, and a resettlement area at Melatai in Jalan Selirik, Kapit.

The Kg Sebandi Hilir cluster stemmed from a miring ceremony that took place on May 31 – the eve of Gawai.

Under the standard operating procedure (SOP) the ceremony was to be restricted to only 20 people.

The disaster committee said in the Kg Sebandi Hilir cluster, a total of 34 people were screened and nine, including the index case, tested positive.

All have been warded at the Sarawak general hospital (SGH) in Kuching.

The Melatai cluster stemmed from Gawai visits and the flouting of movement restrictions, the disaster committee said.

Of 139 people screened so far, 45, including the index case, tested positive. Twenty-three are negative but the number of positive cases could rise as 71 others await their results.

The third cluster, at Kg Tabuan Haji Drahman in Kuching, is also a community cluster, with the source of the outbreak from social contacts within the village.

Thirty-three of the 62 people in the village who have been tested are positive.

Sarawak reported 569 new cases today, a drop from 699 yesterday, and four deaths, a drop from eight yesterday.

The victims are aged between 66 and 84 – two from Kapit and one each from Sibu and Meradong.

The disaster committee said 65.2% of the cases are from five districts – Sibu, Kuching, Kapit, Miri and Bintulu. – June 12, 2021.