COVID: Sabah sees significant drop in daily cases - Masidi

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah recorded a significant drop in daily COVID-19 cases today with only 190 cases, compared with 265 cases reported yesterday, and no new clusters detected, said state Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun.

Masidi, who is also the state government's spokesperson on COVID-19, said with the new development, the cumulative number of cases in Sabah currently stood at 62,037, with two deaths reported in Lahad Datu.

He said of the total number of new cases, 101 were the result of close contact screening; 44 cases (cluster screening); 31 cases (symptomatic screening), six targeted screening cases and another eight other cases.

"A total of 10 districts in Sabah recorded a decrease in cases, with seven of them achieving a decrease in cases with a single-digit range while three other districts showed a significant decrease in the double-digit range, namely Tawau with 43 cases; Kalabakan (38) and Kota Kinabalu (26).

"There are eight districts that recorded an increase in cases today. Six districts recorded an increase in cases in the single-digit range, while two other districts recorded an increase in cases in the double-digit range, namely, Kunak with 14 cases and Papar with 13 cases (bringing the numbers to 34 and 25 respectively)," he said in a statement, tonight.

Masidi said that a total of 10 districts did not record new positive COVID-19 cases today. They are Ranau, Beluran, Telupid, Pitas, Sipitang, Keningau, Tongod, Tenom, Nabawan and Tambunan.

He said, despite the downward trend in cases in Sabah since yesterday, the changes in the figures for the districts in the yellow, orange and red zones were not static.

Thus, the effectiveness of efforts to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic depends on the community's determination in practising self-discipline, as well complying with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) set by the state government, he said.

Commenting on the state-level National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme, Masidi said that, for the first phase, a total of 57,626 individuals in Sabah had received the first dose of the vaccine, while 52,667 people had received both doses.

For phase two, a total of 72,797 people have received the first dose while 26,505 individuals have received both doses of the vaccine thus far, he said.

Meanwhile, Masidi added that a total of 548,343 people had registered for the vaccination exercise in Sabah to date, which is 18.7 per cent of the population of the state.

-- BERNAMA