COVID-19: Actual number of daily cases in Sabah to be known once 6,653 backlog tests completed - Masidi

KOTA KINABALU: The actual number of daily COVID-19 cases in Sabah will only be known once the test results of the 6,653 backlog cases are released, said state Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun.

He said no time frame had been set for the completion of the backlog tests, although he hoped that it could be done soon.

“Hopefully we can clear the backlogged cases so that we can get more realistic figures and accurate reflection of the situation in Sabah. Three private hospitals have been appointed to help out and they (the tests) are sent directly to Kuala Lumpur for processing,” Masidi, who is also the state’s official spokesperson for COVID-19, told a press conference yesterday.

Earlier, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that Sabah continued to record the highest number of COVID-19 cases today, with 578 cases out of the 847 nationwide total.

Asked about the the case of a 63-year-old woman, who tested positive for COVID-19 and who is believed to have fallen to her death from the eighth floor of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital here today, Masidi said investigations were still ongoing.

Meanwhile, he said all COVID-19 treatment centres in the state still had sufficient number of beds to meet the treatment needs of patients although hospital beds are now used at the maximum rate.

“Apart from hospitals, the government has 23 treatment centres for levels one and two low-risk COVID-19 patients... this gives some leeway for hospitals treating more serious cases,” he said.

Masidi also said that so far a total of 13 teachers, 27 students and two staff from the Sabah Education Department were undergoing treatment after being infected with COVID-19.

“The cause of their infections is still under investigation. For now, we have not traced the infections to any of the reported clusters,” he said.

-- BERNAMA