KUCHING: Two new Covid-19 cases were reported in Lawas on Sunday (Sept 27), bringing the cumulative total of cases to 706 cases statewide.
State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) in a statement said both cases involved local men working as frontliners at the Sarawak-Sabah Border Post in Merapok, Lawas.
“Both cases were screened on Sept 20 on suspicion of having close contact with a positive Covid-19 case while on duty at the border post.
“Screening samples of these cases were sent to the Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Public Health Laboratory and the rT-PCR test on Sept 26 found that their screening samples were Covid-19 positive.
“One of these cases showed early signs and symptoms of Covid-19 infection on Sept 7 while the other did not show any signs and symptoms. Both cases were referred to Miri Hospital on Sunday (Sept 27) for further treatment,” said the statement issued on Sunday.
The committee said preliminary investigations showed that both cases did not have a history of travelling abroad or visiting red zones in Sabah.
It added the cause of the infection in both cases are still under investigation and the results of the preliminary investigations led to the possibility of both cases contracting Covid-19 while performing duties as frontliners at the border post.
“Apart from working in the same place, the findings of the preliminary investigations showed that both cases did not have any other correlation.
“Thus, further investigation is still needed to determine the existence of a new Covid-19 cluster amongst them. Tracking of close contacts to these cases are also being done amongst family members, colleagues and social contacts,” said SDMC.
SDMC informed that six individuals are still receiving treatment at hospital isolation wards in Sarawak General Hospital (SGH), Bintulu Hospital, and Sungai Buloh Hospital, Selangor and the total number of deaths remains at 19, or 2.69 percent.
“There is also one case detected in Sandakan, Sabah currently receiving treatment at Bintulu Hospital,” it said.
It was also noted that a total of two new persons-under-investigation (PUIs) were reported while none are currently awaiting laboratory test results.
SDMC also informed that 248 new persons-under-surveillance (PUSs) had been checked into hotels to undergo quarantine.
This brings the current total number of PUS at 11 hotels statewide to 820 persons, while 24,545 PUS had completed their quarantine period.
