KOTA KINABALU: A funeral ceremony has sparked a new COVID-19 cluster, namely the Tampasuk Cluster in Kota Belud, with 29 positive cases detected so far as a result of 159 screening tests conducted on close contacts.

Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said the index case involved a 32-year-old female bank teller who had symptoms of fever, body aches, sore throat, cold, as well as cough, and was confirmed positive on July 26.

"All the 29 COVID-10 positive individuals have been referred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the COVID-19 Low-Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centre for treatment and isolation," he said in a statement tonight.

Meanwhile, Masidi, who is also Sabah's official spokesperson on COVID-19, said a total of 949 new COVID-19 positive cases were recorded in Sabah yesterday, compared with 1,010 cases reported the day before.

He said of that total, 570 cases or 60.06 per cent were detected from close contact screenings, 201 cases or 21.18 per cent were from symptomatic screenings, and the rest from other categories.

Masidi also urged community leaders, village heads and mukim heads to remind residents in their respective areas not to hold any post-funeral ceremonies such as kenduri, tahlil and so on.

He said it was important to prevent the spread of infections that could potentially trigger new clusters that were increasing at this time, especially in relation to the organisation of social events.

-- BERNAMA