MOH Records 13 New Covid-19 Cases, Sarawak Delays Reopening 164 Schools

The Sentosa cluster in Sarawak has seen two generations of spread of the virus.

KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 — The Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 13 new Covid-19 cases today, with active cases rising to 220 from 212 yesterday.

Of the newly reported cases, five were local community infections, while eight were imported cases from the United Kingdom, India, the Philippines, Pakistan, Gambia, and Ukraine.

Three cases that involved Malaysians from the five local transmissions were reported in Johor, Sarawak and Sabah. A person was found to be positive in Johor during a screening at the workplace. A symptomatic person was also detected with the coronavirus during a screening in Sabah, whereas an infected Malaysian in Sarawak came from the Sentosa cluster.

Two foreigners tested positive for Covid-19 in Sarawak and Perlis. One person belongs to the Mambong cluster, while the other person who tested positive with the virus was an undocumented migrant who was screened before transfer to the Kangar immigration detention centre.

Sarawak reported 10 active clusters today, with the Sentosa cluster being the largest in the state.

According to MOH, cases from the Sentosa cluster have seen two generations of spread — which means that a person infects another person, who then infects another person.

In January, China reported that the coronavirus was transmitted to at least four generations in the country, which shows the rapid human-to-human transmission.

As of today, 31 positive cases have been detected in the Sentosa cluster in Sarawak from the total of 1,026 people who were screened for the virus. A total of 888 people tested negative, while 107 people are still waiting for their test result.

Seventeen cases, or 54.84 per cent of the cases in the cluster at Sentosa Hospital, a psychiatric MOH hospital in Kuching, consisted of health care workers, while four cases involved employees of a cleaning company and security guards.

A patient from the medical facility, two family members, and seven close contacts also tested positive for the virus under this cluster.

Although the cause of the infection is yet to be determined, initial investigations found that most likely, activities in the community would have caused the virus transmission.

A total of 198 people, including 10 foreigners, have been screened under the Mambong cluster in Sarawak, with seven positive cases and 191 negative cases.

The Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) has the capacity of conducting 1,000 Covid-19 tests per day. If the state is required to do more tests, additional tests can be done at the Sarawak Heart Centre with 100 tests, as well as Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) and Borneo Medical Centre with 500 and 150 tests respectively.

The Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) reported today two new cases in Sarawak, located in Kuching and Serian respectively, which brings the total cases in Sarawak to 677.

Sarawak Patient 676 was a local woman who had close contact with Sarawak Patient 630, her child. Sarawak Patient 676, who was discovered through active screening of the Sentosa cluster, showed no symptoms. She was swabbed at a screening centre in Serian on July 27 and tested positive on July 28.

Sarawak Patient 677 was a foreign man who had close contact with Sarawak Patient 581. He was detected through active screening of the Mambong cluster. He also showed no symptoms.

SDMC has decided to postpone the reopening of primary and secondary school (164 schools) in Kuching, Padawan and Samarahan districts to August 17. However, preschool, Form 5 and upper Form 6 classes will continue as usual.

As of today, Malaysia has recorded a total of 8,956 Covid-19 cases with 8,612 recovered patients and 124 deaths.

You may also like