KUCHING: Sarawakians should avoid non-essential travel outside the state in October in order to bring down the number of imported Covid-19 cases, says Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah (pic).
The Deputy Chief Minister said this advice was based on data which showed that 29 of the 40 cases reported in Sarawak in the last 14 days were imported.
He said seven cases were imported from overseas, while 22 came from other parts of Malaysia, including 16 who returned from Sabah.
“There were also 11 local transmissions, of which six involved contacts to the imported cases.
“As such, we advise Sarawakians not to travel outside Sarawak if it is not necessary, especially in October.
“If we can avoid going out from Sarawak during this month, we may be able to reduce the number of imported cases,” he said at the state disaster management committee’s briefing here on Friday (Oct 9).
Uggah also said Sarawak reported 10 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, taking the state’s tally to 742 cases.
He said seven of the cases involved persons who recently travelled to Sabah while one case involved a person who had travelled to Kedah and Kuala Lumpur.
The remaining two cases were classified as local transmissions, including one involving a security officer at Kuching International Airport who was a contact of a positive case who returned from Kuwait on Oct 2.
The other locally transmitted case was a security personnel in Lubok Antu who was screened for Covid-19 after he started having a sore throat on Oct 5. His test result was found to be positive on Oct 8.