KOTA KINABALU, Feb 4 — Four more COVID-19 clusters involving educational institutions were detected in Sabah today, said state Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun.
The Sabah COVID-19 spokesman said the new development brought the total number of education clusters in the state to 16.
He said the four new clusters were the Jalan Tandek and Jalan Taman Beringin Clusters in Kota Marudu; the Jalan Pendidikan Ranau and Sungai Batang Batu Sepuluh Clusters in Sandakan.
He said the Jalan Tandek Cluster index case was a 15-year-old male hostel student of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Tandek I who was tested positive on Jan 17.
Masidi said the screening of 43 close contacts found 34 more positive cases, bringing the total number of cases detected involving the cluster to 35.
“The Jalan Taman Beringin Cluster involves a 17-year-old female student of SMK Bandau who was tested positive on Jan 19 before receiving treatment at the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital.
“The screening conducted on 49 close contacts found 24 more positive cases bringing the cumulative number of cases to 25, including 19 new cases detected today,” he said in a statement tonight.
Masidi said the index case for the Jalan Pendidikan Ranau Cluster was a 19-year-old SMK Mat Salleh male hostel student who was found positive on Jan 31 following a self-screening test after developing symptoms on Jan 29.
“The screening of 87 close contacts saw another 24 testing positive bringing the total number of cases to 25,” he said.
As for the Sungai Batang Batu Sepuluh Cluster, Masidi said the index case was a 16-year-old female student of the Tun Mohammad Fuad Stephens Mara Junior Science College (MRSM) in Sandakan who was screened after having the symptoms of fever on Jan 25.
“Close contact screening found 49 more cases involving students, teachers and their family members bringing the cumulative number of cases to 50 including 36 new cases recorded today,” he said.
Masidi said all those who tested positive were in categories 1 and 2 and have been isolated as well as given further treatments.
He said Sabah recorded 909 new infections today, the highest daily count since Sept 30 last year, bringing the cumulative figure to 250,440.
