KOTA KINABALU, July 18 — A total of 124 new COVID-19 cases recorded in Sabah involved the Tembok Dua cluster in Tawau today, bringing the total infections for the cluster to 159 cases, said Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun.
He said 35 positive cases were detected among inmates in the Tawau Prison on July 16, with 30 cases detected through screenings of inmates to be released to the temporary detention depot and handed over to the Immigration Department.
He said five other cases were detected among inmates with matters outside the prison, four having court proceedings and one with an antenatal appointment.
“All positive cases (involving inmates) are from the Ceria, Damai and Abadi blocks that were (previously) clean, where all the inmates have undergone quarantine for 14 days and tested negative for COVID-19. Close contact tracing has been done for inmates and prison guards.
“Initial investigations revealed there is no epidemiological relationship with the previous Tembok Tawau cluster that happened in the Ehsan block, which is a contaminated block,” he said in a statement tonight.
Masidi, who is also the state government COVID-19 spokesman, said three other clusters were recorded today, namely the Batu Tiga Utara cluster in Sandakan with 19 cases, Agathis cluster in Kalabakan (33 cases) and Sri Sandau cluster in Kinabatangan (11 cases).
He said the Batu Tiga Utara cluster occurred at a dialysis centre in Sandakan with a 27-year-old man as the index case who tested positive last Tuesday (July 13) and the cluster involved infections among patients and family members.
The Agathis cluster, meanwhile, was detected last Wednesday (July 14) and Sri Sandau cluster on July 12, involving infections at oil palm plantations in their respective areas and the spread of infection was detected among co-workers, clinic workers and family members.
In addition, Masidi said Sabah today recorded 666 new cases, bringing the state’s total to 75,145.
He added there were 275 recoveries today, taking the total number of recovered cases in the state to 71,232.
