KOTA KINABALU: Teachers returning to Sabah will only need to do swab test to check if they are negative for Covid-19.
“And if they are negative, it is okay,” said Local Government and Housing Minister, Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun today.
He was replying to a question whether Sabah will follow Sarawak’s example and impose the mandatory 14 days quarantine for returning teachers as well as require them to undergo swab before and after completing the quarantine period.
Nevertheless, Masidi said that although there are no changes to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), the government is evaluating the matter daily.
“We would make changes if necessary…we are monitoring the situation. It is not impossible to change,” he added.
Masidi then urged the need for people to strictly abide by the SOP set.
“People need to take it seriously. We received a bulk of complaints of members of the public apparent lack of seriousness. We have become relaxed. We must not assume we are back to normal,” he said.
He also said that looking at the statistics, the desired improvement has not been achieved.
Meanwhile, Sabah saw a drop in the number of new cases from 493 cases on Jan 7 to 401 cases today.
However, four more deaths were registered today, an increase by three from the previous day.
Additionally, a new cluster was also detected at the Keningau district called ‘Kauran cluster’ which registered 10 new cases.
The new additional cases brought the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases in Sabah to 39,854 cases.
Masidi said that as of today, 302 patients have been discharged bringing the total number of people who have recovered from the virus to 36,448 people in Sabah.
Nevertheless, 2,506 people are seeking treatment with 696 warded at hospitals and 1,810 people warded at PKRCs. The number of people admitted to the Intensive Care Unit is 68 people, out of which, 19 required breathing assistance.
Masidi also mentioned that the State capital continued to produce the highest number of new cases at 101 today, followed by Penampang with 41 cases and Lahad Datu with 39 cases.
Other districts with new cases are Tawau (32), Putatan (29), Keningau (18), Papar (18), Kinabatangan (16), Pitas (14), Sandakan (12), Tuaran (12), Kota Marudu (10), Tambunan (nine), Kuala Penyu (nine), Kota Belud (seven), Kudat (six), Kunak (six), Tenom (six), Beaufort (five), Kalabakan (five), Ranau (four), Sipitang (one) and Semporna (one).
Only four districts, namely Beluran, Nabawan, Telupid and Tongod had zero new cases today.
Meanwhile, most Covid-19 cases in Sabah resulted from close contacts with 255 cases today or 63.6 percent.