File photo shows Covid-19 active case detection for the Pasai Cluster.
KUCHING (April 13): The Pasai Cluster — the largest Covid-19 cluster in Sarawak to date — ended today.
The State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) said in its daily update that the cluster recorded a total of 2,693 cases and 29 deaths.
The cluster, which started in several longhouses in Sibu, was declared by the State Health Department on Jan 9, 2021 after 38 positive cases were detected including the index case, who was found positive on Jan 7, 2021.
The index case, patient 1,175, had returned from Johor Bahru to attend her father’s funeral at a longhouse on Dec 29, 2020.
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According to Health director-general Tan Sri Noor Hisham Abdullah in a press conference in Putrajaya on Jan 9, 2021, the funeral proceedings were held for three consecutive days.
It involved many visitors, who gathered at the longhouse without adhering to standard operating procedures (SOPs) such as physical distancing.
The cluster saw six generations of infections and spread to 58 longhouses throughout Sarawak.
On Feb 14, 2021, the state Health Department detected a sub-cluster, dubbed Tangap, in Subis, Miri.
SDMC said the sub-cluster involved a temporary construction workers’ quarters.
The index case for the sub-cluster was an individual who had been screened after he developed symptoms on Jan 31.
He had a travel history to Song, with close contact to a Covid-19 positive case related to the third generation of the Pasai Cluster, which was announced on Jan 9.