File photo for illustration purposes
KUCHING (Mar 6): Sarawak recorded three Covid-19 deaths today along with 221 new positive cases, said the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC).
The committee said in a statement that the three deaths were recorded in Miri, Bintulu and Sibu each, making the state’s current death toll at 87.
As for today’s new cases, Sibu once again topped the list with 79, followed by Bintulu (33), Betong (32), Kuching (17), Kapit (12), Julau (10), Serian (10), Meradong (8), Miri (5), Sebauh (5), Bau (3), Selangau (3), Pusa (2), Sarikei (1) and Tatau (1).
SDMC said the 85th death involved a local 42-year-old man who was admitted into the Miri Hospital after complaining of breathing difficulty. The man also experienced symptoms like fever and coughing.
“A rapid molecular test on the man showed he was positive for Covid-19 on Feb 24. His health continued to deteriorate and he died on March 5.
“He had comorbidities such as heart ischemia, high blood pressure, diabetes, gout and dyslipidaemia,” said SDMC.
The 86th death is of a 53-year-old local man who was admitted into the Bintulu Hospital after his rT-PCR test revealed he was positive for Covid-19 on March 2.
The committee said he had symptoms such as coughing and fever for several days before that.
His health continued to deteriorate and he died on March 5. He had comorbidities such as diabetes and obesity.
The 87th death is a local 58-year-old woman who was admitted into the Sibu Hospital after experiencing symptoms such as coughing and fever.
She was tested and was found to be positive for Covid-19 on Jan 21. Her health continued to deteriorate and she died on March 5.
She had comorbidities such as high blood pressure and dyslipidaemia, said SDMC.
Meanwhile, according to SDMC’s statistics, out of 79 new cases in Sibu District, 48 were detected through active case detection (ACD), 17 from voluntary screenings, 13 symptomatic patients and one involving a healthcare worker.
In Bintulu, 30 cases were detected from ACD and three more from symptomatic patients, while in Betong, 31 cases involved the Jalan Muhibbah Cluster and one symptomatic patient.
In Kuching District, out of its 17 new cases, 11 involved the Emperoh jambu Cluster, five from voluntary screenings and one from ACD.
Kapit District recorded 12 new cases where 11 were from ACD and one was a symptomatic patient.
Julau’s 10 new cases today were all involving the new Bukit Tunggal Cluster, Serian’s 10 new cases were all from ACD, and Meradong’s eight new cases were from ACD (2) and the Sungai Bakong CLuster (2).
Miri District recorded five new cases where three were from ACD, one symptomatic patient and one voluntary screening.
Sebauh District’s five new cases, Bau (3), Selangau (3) and Pusa (2) were all detected from ACD while Sarikei’s single new case was of a symptomatic patient.
Last but not least, Tatau district’s one new case was of a symptomatic patient.
All in all, 2,372 active cases are being treated in hospitals and Covid-19 Quarantine and Low-Risk Treatment Centres (PKRC) as of today, where 931 are in the Sibu Hospital and PKRC, Bintulu Hospital and PKRC (355), Miri Hospital and PKRC (297), Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) and Kuching PKRC (278), Betong Hospital and PKRC (199), Sarikei Hospital and PKRC (156), Kapit Hospital and PKRC (143) and Sri Aman Hospital and PKRC (13).
On the plus side, 258 cases have recovered and were discharged today, making it a total of 8,399 recovery cases or 77.09 per cent out of the cumulative cases of 10,895 in Sarawak to date.
The recovery cases are from Sibu Hospital (107), Bintulu Hospital (58), SGH (48), Sarikei Hospital (18), Kapit PKRC (9), Sri Aman PKRC (8), Miri Hospital (7) and Betong PKRC (3).
SDMC also recorded 225 new person-under-investigation (PUS) cases where four were still waiting for their lab test results.
At the same time, the committee also recorded 562 person-under-surveillance (PUS) cases today, making it a total of 6,192 of them to date being quarantined in 91 hotels and other accommodations across the state.