KOTA KINABALU, Feb 6 — People’s carelessness and complacency over the standard operating procedures (SOP) during gatherings or when they are in public places are among the causes of the spike in daily COVID-19 cases in Sabah, said state Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun.
The Sabah COVID-19 spokesperson said this could be seen when the wearing of face masks and physical distancing were not strictly adhered to.
“A total of 47.55 per cent of the new infections today occur sporadically and the patients only realised (that they are infected) when they experience COVID-19 symptoms.
“The percentage of cases detected through symptomatic screenings is high in urban areas. For example, almost 50 per cent of the 309 new cases in Kota Kinabalu are from the symptomatic screenings,” he said in a statement, here tonight.
Apart from that, he said, pending confirmation from the Sabah Health Department, the increase in new cases was likely due to the spread of the Omicron variant was spreading more rapidly than other strains of the virus.
Masidi said Sabah recorded 1,285 new infections today, bringing the total cumulative figure to 252,930 cases, while 328 recoveries were reported, taking the total number of recovered cases to 241,031.
