S'wak Reports 84 New Cases, Two Children Flown To Sibu Hospital

KUCHING, April 7 (Bernama) -- Sarawak has reported 84 new cases of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD), including two children from Kapit, who were airflown to Sibu hospital for further treatment.
Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan said Friday one of the HFMD patients was a five-month-old boy from Rh. Jampang in Nanga Banyan while the second one was a two-year-four-month old boy from Rh. Pius in Nanga Merit.
"They are not seriously ill but were referred to specialists in Sibu for further management of persistent fever after they were evacuated by air by a medical team on standby," he said in his daily HFMD updates here.
So far 8,117 children had been infected with the HFMD, which had claimed nine lives, including three cases confirmed to be Enterovirus 71 (EV71) positive, statewide, he said.
Dr Chan, who is the State Disaster and Relief Management Committee Chairman, said the one-year-seven-month-old girl, from Nanga Bena, Baleh also in Kapit, who was airlifted to Sibu yesterday was in stable condition.
On the daily HFMD updates, he said, 33 new admissions were reported today, compared to 20 yesterday, bringing the cumulative admissions to 1,427 since the outbreak was first detected in Sibu in February.
He said 53 HFMD patients were still in the wards, from 40 yesterday, with Sibu hospital having the highest number of 18 infected children followed by Miri hospital (nine), Sarikei and Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) here with seven each.
He said yesterday the Sarawak Health Department would not order any more kindergartens and child care centres to shut down as the spread of HFMD in the state had been contained.
The Active Surveillance Team from the department had also not detected any symptoms of the disease among any children, who returned on Monday after all pre-schools were reopened, he said.