The latest casualty was an 11-year-old boy, from Kampung Sebangkoi, in the Simunjan district in the Samarahan Division, the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee Secretariat said in a statement.

The pupil of a national school in Simunjan showed symptoms of the disease, such as pain and weakness in the right arm and vomiting, on April 18.

His parents took him to a clinic and the Serian Hospital the following day, it said.

“His condition became worse and on April 22 he had a seizure. The following day, he was referred to the Sarawak General Hospital.

A clinical sample was sent to the Institute for Medical Research in Kuala Lumpur on May 2 and it was confirmed to be rabies positive.

“His condition worsened and he died on May 3 at noon. The cause of death was confirmed as rabies encephalitis,” it added.

As of May 2, the Sarawak government had declared 30 areas in five Sarawak divisions as rabies-infected, namely Serian (21 areas), Kuching (four), Samarahan (three), Sri Aman (one) and Sarikei (one).

So far this year, only one case of rabies in humans was reported, of a seven-year-old boy in Kampung Kuala, Serian. The boy is still in a coma.