KOTA KINABALU: Sabah recorded 2,413 new Covid-19 cases on August 18 and the numbers are expected to rise in the next few days due to the backlog in samples tested.
Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said nearly 11 per cent are backlog cases.
“Will take at least a week to clear huge backlogs,” he said.
Deaths in Sabah also showing high numbers, with 18 cases on Wednesday alone, six recorded in Tawau, five in Kota Kinabalu, four in Sandakan and one each in Penampang, Tuaran and Kunak.
Masidi also revealed one new workplace cluster in Kinabatangan.
Case index for Kluster Sungai Pin 2 is a 52-year-old Indonesian worker in an oil palm plantation near Sungai Pin, Kinabatangan.
Following the case, 19 more positive samples were found from close contact screenings.
“New cases in Sabah continue to soar to very high levels. Today the number of new cases in Sabah is 2,413. It is 310 higher than yesterday.
The number of cases today include backlog screening results of 258 (10.7%).
“Close contact screening remained the main contributor with 1,410 (58.4%), followed by symptomatic screening 538 (12.3%) and existing clusters 233 (9.6%),” he said.
Kota Kinabalu recorded 594 new cases, an increase of 127 compared to the previous day, Tawau 348, Penampang 177, Tuaran 174, Keningau 153, Sandakan 150, Lahad Datu 125, Sipitang 82, Tenom 82, Kota Belud 81, Papar 75, Kalabakan 47, Beaufort 46, Putatan 42, Kinabatangan 36, Kota Marudu 28, Beluran 23, Pitas 22, Semporna 21, Kunak 20, Tongod 20, Telupid 18, Ranau 16, Kudat 13, Nabawan 9, Kuala Penyu 6 and Tambunan 5.
A total of 1363 (56.5%) from the total cases were in Category 2, 1026 (42.5%) in Category 1, 11 in Category 3, three people in Category 4 and five in Category 5.
For the vaccination rate, about 24% of adult population in Sabah have taken both Covid-19 jabs while 48.4% have obtained their first dose.