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PUTRAJAYA: The Covid-19 outbreak in Sabah shows no signs of slowing down, with 97 of the 111 new cases in the country coming from the state.
With the state going to the polls today, Health Director General Tan Sri Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah (Photo) has asked the Sabahans to observe the Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP) at all times.
On top of that, Dr. Noor Hisham said that the virus found in the Sabah Benteng Lahad Datu (LD) group was from the D614G mutation, which is said to be a highly infectious strain.
“With this risk assessment, the ministry is urging the Sabah public to be more cautious and increase their adherence to the SOP that has been established, especially for state elections.
“As is the case in our Malaysian culture, people should always remind each other to follow SOP so that we can protect each other from Covid-19.
“The ministry is encouraging everyone to come out and vote, but please practice physical distancing and self-hygiene, and wear face masks at all times,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Laboratory studies conducted by the ministry’s Institute for Medical Research found that the virus taken from the Benteng LD group was the same D614G mutation that was detected in the Sivagangga, Tawar, Sungai and Bukit Tiram groups.
Currently, Benteng’s LD group, the largest and most active in the country, which originated in the Lahad Datu police dungeon and Tawau prison, on the east coast of Sabah, has recorded another 13 cases, which raises his count to 743 infections.
The largest increase yesterday was recorded by the Bangau-Bangau cluster in Semporna with 74 new infections. The group now has 134 cases.
Laut’s group saw two more new cases, while Sabah’s other cases were caught in state Covid-19 testing.
Two cases were detected in Pahang and Selangor of people who had just returned from Sabah.
Malaysia’s cumulative total of cases since the outbreak began now stands at 10,687.
Thirty Covid-19 patients have been discharged, which means that the total number of people who have recovered so far is 9,696 or a recovery rate of 90.7%.
There are no new deaths, so the death toll remains at 133.
The number of active cases in the country is now 858.
Four people are in intensive care and three of them require respiratory assistance.
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