KOTA KINABALU, Feb 13 — There were 518 new COVID-19 cases involving children in Sabah today, with 33 cases involving infants less than a year old, Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said.
The Sabah COVID-19 spokesperson said 156 cases involved those aged one to five years, while 329 cases involved children aged six to 11 years, all of whom have not yet received the COVID-19 vaccine.
“It is highly recommended that parents and school management take the necessary steps to reduce the risk of infection among young children, especially those who are not yet eligible to be vaccinated,” he said in a statement tonight.
Meanwhile, he said five districts recorded the highest number of cases today, namely Kota Kinabalu with 914 cases, Sandakan (478 cases), Tuaran (414 cases), Penampang (389 cases), and Papar (256 cases).
He said cases of sporadic infection were detected through symptomatic screenings became a factor and the main determinant for the total of cases in the districts that recorded high daily cases, of which 58.52 per cent of today’s cases were detected through screening.
“We can conclude that the high percentage of sporadic infections is how the virus spread fast and wide, and will be a determining factor to the total of new cases in the near future,” he said.
Masidi said a total of 3,891 COVID-19 cases with five deaths due to the pandemic were recorded today, while 620 people recovered and 2,776 patients were receiving treatment.
