KOTA KINABALU, Dec 25 — A crew member of the MV Orbit Petra vessel has been identified as an index case of a new cluster recorded in Sabah today, the Bahtera Cluster.
Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said the 26-year-old local man underwent a saliva RTK test on Dec 12 when he had a cough and lost his sense of smell.
“The index case was then sent to the hotel to undergo quarantine and a repeat screening test the following day also confirmed the positive index case in the RT PCR test,” he said in a statement tonight.
Masidi, who is also the state government COVID-19 spokesperson, said the results of further screening found that 21 more crew members tested positive for COVID-19, and they were isolated for treatment.
Meanwhile, a total of 127 new COVID-19 positive cases were recorded today, bringing a cumulative total of 239,482 cases.
Of the 127 patients, 124 were in categories 1 and 2, and two cases were in category 4. The Sabah Health Department was still evaluating one case.
