MIRI – Preliminary investigations by health authorities have shown that the sudden explosion of 38 Covid-19 cases in eight longhouses in the Pasai Siong cluster in Sibu district in central Sarawak could have been due to an en masse funeral gathering that lasted three days.
Sibu Divisional Disaster Management Committee chairman Charles Siaw chaired a meeting with Health Department units and all state enforcement agencies following yesterday’s discovery of 37 positive cases, in addition to the index case on January 7, and found worrying details.
The health teams carrying out the probe said information from the infected patients shed light on the funeral ceremony at Rumah Langi Ambau longhouse from December 29 to 31.
Langi Ambau is now one of the eight longhouses under lockdown since yesterday afternoon.
The other longhouses are Jelian Nayor, Ringit Unchu, Muja, Nyanggai, Jeran, Kelly Chundan and Nyambung Ajon.
These longhouses are being classified under the Pasai Siong cluster.
The source or index case is a woman who returned to Rumah Langi Ambau for her father’s funeral from her workplace in Johor.
She had flown to Sibu via the Johor Baru-KLIA-Kuching-Sibu route.
She tested positive for Covid-19 on January 7.
The other 37 from the eight longhouses were confirmed positive yesterday.
Siaw today issued a directive to trace everyone who had attended the funeral ceremony.
“The 38 cases include an 11-month-old baby and five children aged below 12. The oldest is 79 years old,” Siaw said.
He said all the eight longhouses under lockdown and cordoning will be provided with adequate food and water supplies.
The police have set up roadblocks to prevent people going out or getting in.
Health Department teams are already being deployed to the sites to carry out urgent tests and to contain the spread.
Flights to Sibu cancelled
In the meantime, all flights from Johor and Sabah to Sibu have been cancelled starting today.
Siaw said these cancellations will be in effect until further notice.
Flights from KLIA to Sibu have been reduced to only two per week instead of daily flights.
These cancellations and reductions are among the immediate steps needed to prevent importing new Covid-19 cases from red zones, he added.
It was reported yesterday that Sibu was just three cases away from being declared a red zone.
There were 37 cases in Sibu and 55 state-wide recorded yesterday. An area is declared a red zone when it has 40 cases. – The Vibes, January 10, 2020
