COVID-19: 394 cases involving returnees from Sabah recorded since Sept 22

He also said that, so far, there were 23 clusters nationwide as a result of the index cases of returnees from that state.

"Of the 394 cases, a total of 228 cases (57.9 per cent) comprised returnees arriving before Sept 27 while 166 cases (42.1 per cent) were of those returning after Sept 27.

"Overall until today, a total of 18,478 returnees from Sabah have been screened at all international and domestic entry points," he said in a virtual media conference on the development of COVID-19 here today.

He said that although the Ministry of Health (MOH) had carried out COVID-19 screening on all returnees from Sabah since Sept 27 as well as issued Home Surveillance Order (HSO) until their negative test results are announced, the number of cases and clusters related to this group were still being reported.

"To help tackle this issue and taking into account the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Sabah, all travellers arriving from Sabah are required to undergo health screening at the domestic and international entry points, be issued a 14-day HSO from the date of arrival, be given a wristband and conduct self-health monitoring using the home assessment tool (HAT) via the MySejahtera application.

"This measure, implemented on Oct 11, will be enforced until a date to be announced later," he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said the MOH would continue to closely monitor the situation and any changes to the approach taken would be tabled to the National Security Council.