COVID: Two more clusters detected in Sarawak - SDMC

KUCHING, April 23  -- Two more COVID-19 clusters, both involving educational institutions in Jalan Roban Lama Saratok and Jalan Selirik, Kapit, were identified in Sarawak today, said the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC).

The Jalan Roban Lama cluster was detected through targeted screening by the Betong Division Health Office on the college’s staff and Form Six students on April 18, with 40 individuals testing positive through the Antigen Rapid Test Kit (RTK-Ag).

“A repeat screening using the RT-PCR (Reverse Transciption Polymerase Chain Reaction) saw 13 of them testing positive for COVID-19 yesterday (April 22).

“The source of infection in this cluster was from the community and spread through close contacts among the college’s staff and students,” the SDMC said in a statement today.

A total of 294 individuals in the cluster have been screened and 48 tested positive, including the index case, with five still awaiting their results.

Meanwhile, the Jalan Selirik cluster involved a school in Kapit and was detected through the index case, namely a 15-year-old of the school’s hostel who was identified through the screening of symptomatic individuals on April 12.

The statement said the virus spread through the gotong-royong activity carried out on April 4 as well as through close contacts between the students and school staff.

"This cluster was infected through the community and active screening of the school's staff and students found an additional 22 positive cases,” it said.

A total of 108 individuals in this cluster have been screened, with 23 testing positive, including the index case, while 85 are still awaiting their results.

There are a total of 56 active clusters in Sarawak, with 17 of them recording 189 additional cases.

A total of 717 new COVID-19 cases and two fatalities were reported in Sarawak today.

-- BERNAMA