KOTA KINABALU, Aug 1 — Close contact screenings continue to be the highest contributor of daily COVID-19 cases in Sabah with 591 infections or 59 per cent of the 1,002 daily cases reported today.
Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said among others, in Tawau District 70 per cent of the 171 new COVID-19 cases detected were from close contact screenings, followed by Penampang (67 per cent of 100 cases), Kota Kinabalu (63 per cent of 171 cases) and Sipitang (62 per cent of 90 cases).
“The data shows that the space or area in the spread of COVID-19 infection is becoming more widespread in the community. This is further reinforced by the high total percentage of 18.36 per cent (184 cases) of the symptomatic category. Cases involving clusters are at 13.27 per cent (133 cases) and targeted screening is 5.49 per cent (55 cases).
“Therefore, the Ministry of Health strongly urges total compliance with standard operating procedures to avoid being infected with COVID-19. Self-discipline is a very important component of health care apart from the need to get complete vaccination,” he said in a statement tonight.
Masidi, who is also the Sabah government spokesman on COVID-19, said non-compliance of SOP also affected individuals who had been vaccinated to be infected, and this could be seen when 181 of the total daily cases today were those who had been fully vaccinated.
Masidi said Sabah recorded two new COVID-19 clusters today, namely the Tembidong Bidong Cluster involving Telupid and Beluran, and the Jalan Patikang Ulu Cluster in Keningau.
The Tembidong Bidong cluster is suspected to be caused by visiting activities during the Aidiladha celebration with 88 positive cases, while the Patikang Ulu cluster (17 cases) involves infections at work, and investigations and efforts to control both clusters are still ongoing, he said.
