KUCHING: Sarawak recorded another Covid-19 death yesterday, bringing the death toll to 16 in the state thus far.
This was a local 72-year-old Iban man from Lingga in Sri Aman. He had hypertension and a stomach tumour, said State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
He added that the man had pain in the epigastric region, melaenic stool and shortness of breath a week ago.
“This case was referred by Sri Aman Hospital to Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) on April 20. A Covid-19 test was done as pre-operation screening and the results were found to be Covid-19 positive on April 22,” Uggah said at a Covid-19 daily update press conference at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here yesterday.
He said the patient’s conditions worsened while under treatment at SGH and he passed away yesterday (April 22) at 9.15am.
“This case had no history of exposure to Covid-19 cases and the source of infection is still being investigated,” he said.
Uggah then disclosed that 19 new positive Covid-19 cases were reported yesterday while 17 cases had recovered and discharged from hospitals.
“Of these 17 recovered cases, 15 were from SGH, one from Sibu Hospital, and one was from Miri Hospital,” he said.
He said that 155 new person under investigation (PUI) cases were reported yesterday while the laboratory results for 136 cases were pending.
He said that the state had numerous yellow zones (which had shown a reduction in active cases) and 26 green zones.
“The rate of public compliance with the movement control order (MCO) in Sarawak is 97 percent,” he said.
On Sarawakians returning from overseas, Malaya, Sabah and Labuan, he said that 20 more new persons under surveillance (PUS) had been checked into hotels, making the total 1,260.
“These individuals are quarantined at 17 hotels all over Sarawak while 380 have completed their quarantine period and have been allowed to return home,” said Uggah.
