MIRI – Two positive Covid-19 cases have been detected in two remote longhouses in southern Sarawak today, triggering an immediate lockdown of the populated native settlements.
The State Disaster Management Committee this evening announced that a positive case was detected in the Sungai Putong longhouse and another case in the Bui Panjai longhouse today.
Both are located in the Sri Aman division, about 200km north of state capital Kuching.
The committee’s chairman Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas said the two affected individuals have been taken out of their longhouses and a lockdown declared for the rest of the villagers.
“The Health Department teams are being deployed to the sites now,” he said. “They are carrying out active tracing of all close contacts of the positive patients.
“No one will be allowed to leave or enter these longhouses,” he told the press.
The infected duo have been brought to the Sarawak General Hospital for isolation and treatment.
They are among the 14 new positive cases detected in Sarawak today.
The rest of the new cases today were found in Kuching, Pusa, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri.
Earlier today, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri James Masing had sounded the alarm after an Indonesian male worker with valid work permit was confirmed as Covid-19 positive at a remote construction site in Kapit district on January 2.
He said very strict control over the movement of outsiders, especially foreign workers, coming into rural settlements is necessary to prevent Covid-19 from spreading in the rural areas, which would have disastrous effects. – The Vibes, January 7, 2020
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