Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun
KOTA KINABALU: The people are advised not to hold social gatherings as sporadic infections are on the rise in Sabah.
State Covid-19 spokesperson Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun on Thursday said sporadic cases had increased from 22% a few days ago to 24% (251 cases) on August 5.
State Health Department director Dr Rose Nani Mudin also reminded the public to refrain from holding social gatherings and gotong-royong to stop the spread of Covid-19.
“We can also reduce the rate of transmission by strictly adhering to standard operating procedures,” she said.
New daily Covid-19 cases are back to four-digit number of 1,062 on August 5, with 54 percent from close contact screenings.
Nine deaths were recorded with four in Kota Kinabalu, two in Sipitang and one each in Tawau, Sandakan and Kudat.
“Analytical data shows the percentage of symptomatic or sporadic cases is increasing, almost 24 per cent from the total cases.
“Sporadic cases are relatively high in urban areas such as Kota Kinabalu, Tawau, Penampang, Tuaran and Sandakan.
“In Kota Kinabalu, 83 out of 239 cases were in sporadic category, Tawau 37 out of 137, Penampang 27 out of 106, Sandakan 19 cases out of 62 and Tuaran 27 out of 114.
“Close contact continues to be the main contributor to daily cases which is 569 or almost 54 percent, while cases from existing clusters were 123 or 12 per cent, and targeted screening in EMCO localities registered 65 new cases or six per cent of the total daily cases,” Masidi said.
Kota Kinabalu is still on the top with 239 cases followed by Tawau 137, Tuaran 114, Penampang 106, Tongod 65, Sandakan 62, Keningau 39, Sipitang 28, Papar 25, Kota Belud 25, Putatan 24, Kinabatangan and Beaufort 22 each, Telupid and Kudat 20 each, Kunak and Ranau 19 each, Kalabakan 17, Beluran 14, Lahad Datu 12, Tenom 9, Semporna 8, Pitas 5, Kuala Penyu 4, Kota Marudu 3, Nabawan 2 and Tambunan 2.
No new clusters were recorded in the past 24 hours.
Masidi said vaccinations must also be sped up and conducted on schedule.
“Taking into account the rising number of new cases and the increasing percentage of sporadic cases, there is a need to improve the vaccination number as soon as possible” he said.
Masidi added with 60,000 vaccinations given out a day in the state, at least 60 per cent of Sabahans would be fully vaccinated by September 21.
“On August 4, the state Health Department had vaccinated 46,840 doses of vaccines.
“As of Wednesday, 967,555 individuals in Sabah have received their first dose of vaccine and 415,638 for second dose,” he said.
Without interruption of vaccine delivery schedule, the Health Department is able to vaccine up to 60,000 doses daily.
He added the Health Department is currently maintaining the momentum of implementing vaccination throughout Sabah.
To date, total Covid-19 cases in Sabah are 89,910.