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Surge in Sarawak Covid cases linked to immigration depot

Sarawak Disaster Management Committee says the facility which houses 75 people per room is overcrowded with no space for physical distancing.

Nur Shazreena Ali
1 minute read
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The Semuja immigration detention depot in Serian, which is linked to nearly half of the new Covid-19 cases recorded in Sarawak today.
The Semuja immigration detention depot in Serian, which is linked to nearly half of the new Covid-19 cases recorded in Sarawak today.

The Sarawak Disaster Management Committee says 45% of new Covid-19 cases in the state today came from the Semuja immigration detention depot in Serian.

Its chairman Douglas Uggah Embas said of the 426 new cases, 191 were from the Bukit Semuja depot cluster.

Speaking at a press conference in Kuching, he said 94% of 462 illegal immigrants at the detention centre had tested positive for the virus, blaming the increase in numbers on overcrowding at the facility.

“This scenario proves that the virus is increasingly contagious when there is no physical distancing,” he said, adding that the facility houses 75 people per room.

Sarawak recorded the most new cases today with 426, taking total confirmed infections in the state to 15,869.