KUCHING, Nov 2 — Sarawak today recorded 14 new Covid-19 cases all in Kuching District, with a new Wisma Saberkas Cluster detected, bringing the cumulative tally of cases in the state to 906.

Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said three cases were detected from the Wisma Saberkas Cluster involving employees working for a company there.

"The three cases were detected following contact tracing of Case 884 who was tested positive on November 1.

"The first case of this cluster today is of a local man who works for Case 884. He displayed coughing and body aches symptoms.

"Two other cases from this cluster are of local men who are workers of a company here (Wisma Saberkas) with a history of close contact with Case 884 between October 27 and 29. One of them has a fever,” Uggah was speaking during SDMC’s daily Covid-19 update press conference here today.

He said all of the three new cases from the Wisma Saberkas Cluster were aged between 26 and 37 years old, and underwent screening at a private hospital on November 1, and their test results came out positive on the same day.

Because of that, Uggah said the Health Department has undertaken a contact tracing operation of the cases at Wisma Saberkas earlier today.

According to Uggah, The Wisma Saberkas Cluster originated from Case 866 who was detected positive for Covid-19 on October 26, before spreading to four others prior to today’s cases.

One of them was a 13-year-old family member of Case 866.

This has prompted an active case detection (ACD) operation carried out by the Health Department today at Wisma Saberkas, where 112 individuals were screened and swabbed as of 12pm, Uggah added.

Meanwhile, five new cases were detected from the Greenhill Cluster today involving two women and three men, all locals.

One of the women is a lecturer of a private higher learning institution here with a history of close contact with Case 868. The other woman is a family member of Case 818.

The other case is of a man who is a family member of Case 875,

Another case involved a local man who is a family member of Case 875 from that cluster. Another case is of a local man who has a history of close contact with Case 877 from that cluster. The last case is an employee working at a business premise of Case 869.

"These cases are aged between 29 and 64 years old. They underwent screening between October 31 and November 1, and all of their results came out positive on November 1.

"The Health Department is currently conducting contact tracing of these cases,” said Uggah.

Four of the new cases are from individuals who went for self screenings, he added.

The first case is of a local man who went for a screening at a private hospital here on November 1, and his positive results came out on the same day.

The second case is of a local woman who teaches at a daycare centre here. She underwent screening at a private hospital here on November 1 and her positive results came on the same day.

The third case is of a male security guard who underwent screening at a government hospital here on October 31.

The fourth case is a Chinese national reflexologist who went for a self screening at a private hospital here before intending to return to China.

The Chinese national was found positive for Covid-19 on November 1, and showed no symptoms.

According to Uggah, all of these four self screening cases did not have any history of traveling to high risk areas nor have been in contact with any positive contacts.

"All of these cases are classified as local transmission until their true infection sources have been identified,” said Uggah.

Another case is of a local man who just returned from Negeri Sembilan via flight.

He arrived at the Kuching International Airport on October 21 and was directed to undergo quarantine at a hotel here while waiting for his swab test results.

His first swab test returned negative for Covid-19, but his second swab test which was carried out on October 31 returned a positive result on November 1. He was asymptomatic, said Uggah.

The last case for Sarawak today is of an Indonesian who underwent screening at a government health facility as a requirement before starting work at a food outlet here.

He was tested on November 1 and his results returned positive on the same day.

Uggah said he had no history of travelling to high risk areas nor had been in contact with any positive cases prior.

The case has been classified as local transmission until the true source of infection has been identified, Uggah added.

As of today, Sarawak has six active clusters. They are the Baki Cluster with 30 cases, Greenhill Cluster with 52 cases, Bah Arnab Cluster with 12 cases, Seladah Cluster with 7 cases, Putra Cluster in Bintulu with 5 cases, and the Wisma Saberkas Cluster with 8 cases.

Uggah said SDMC recorded 126 cases are being treated in hospital in the state today, where 104 are in the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH), 17 Miri Hospital, three Bintulu Hospital and two Sibu Hospital.

The Sarawak Covid-19 death toll remains at 19.

Uggah also revealed that 26 new person-under-investigation (PUI) cases were recorded today with two still waiting for their lab test results.

At the same time, he added, 110 new person-under-surveillance (PUS) cases were recorded in the state today, making it a total of 2,254 cases being quarantined in 24 hotels across the state.

Kuching District is still a red zone with 100 cases reported over the past 14 days. Lundu, Miri and Limbang districts are still yellow zones, while 36 other districts are green zones. — Borneo Post