KUCHING, April 17 — Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) deputy chairman Datuk Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian today said Brunei has shared useful information on relapsed coronavirus disease (Covid-19) infection cases in the sultanate with Sarawak.
He said he received the information from Brunei’s Minister of Health Datuk Seri Setia Dr Isham Jaafar on 11 relapsed cases in the sultanate.
“These cases involved patients who have been treated well, recovered and discharged and then three weeks later they were tested positive with Covid-19.
“I have passed this information to the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) specialists because they have to look for new ways of testing the patients,’ Dr Sim told reporters on the latest Covid-19 updates in Sarawak.
Dr Sim said Covid-19 is a new phenomenon, only emerged five months ago and that there are many things that scientists and medical specialists do not know yet.
“Because it is new, you and I don’t have antibody to fight it and that is why the whole population of the world gets infected so easily and that is why we need tough measures like MCO (movement control order) so that we stay at time and break the transmission of the virus,” Dr Sim, who is also the state Minister of Local Government and Housing, said.
He added he has read reports of relapsed cases in South Korea and China.
Dr Sim Sarawak recorded another 10 new Covid-19 positive cases today, taking the total number to 397 positive cases since the first one was detected on March 13.
He said seven of the new cases are treated SGH, two at Miri Hospital and one at Sibu Hospital.
He said the state also recorded 119 cases of persons-under-investigation PUI) today, bringing the cumulative total to 3,184
“Of this total, 2,687 cases have tested negative while 100 are awaiting laboratory test results,” he said.
He said Kuching district registered the most number of PUI cases with 79. and this is followed by Serian (13), Miri (10), Bau and Bintulu with two each, and one each in Lundu, Asajaya, Smunjan, Simanggang, Betong and Sarikei.