COVID: Aidilfitri interstate travel in Sabah triggers two clusters

Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said the index case for the Abaka cluster was a male teacher and his partner, who tested positive when they underwent a screening in order to return to Labuan on May 14 after celebrating Aidilfitri in Tawau.

"The couple entered Sabah on May 8 and went around visiting people in Taman Abaka, Ladang Table in the Merotai sub-district until May 14...out of 171 contacts screened, 68 were negative while 65 samples are still waiting for their results, and the rest are positive," he said in a statement tonight.

He said in the Melikai cluster, the index case was a female kindergarten assistant teacher who tested positive on May 17 after returning to Kampung Melikai Menumbok in Kuala Penyu to celebrate Aidilfitri on May 13.

"Out of 167 samples taken related to the cluster, 15 were positive, bringing the total to 16 cases, with 74 samples still being processed," he said.

Masidi said another cluster was detected in the state, the Indani cluster, in Semporna,with the index case being a man who went for a screening test at the Semporna Hospital after developing symptoms, adding that the cluster involved 12 cases.

"Out of 96 samples taken, 11 of the index case's family members tested positive and 35 samples are still waiting for results," he said.

Meanwhile, he said nine districts had been categorised as COVID-19 red zones, three districts as orange zones, seven districts as yellow zones and eight districts as green zones.

Masidi said that, based on the Sabah state health department's report, a total of 189 COVID-19 cases were recorded today, bringing the total infections in the state to 60,242 cases.