'Nikah' cluster sees new case, new cluster in KB started in duty handover ceremony

Kota Kinabalu: A Covid-19 cluster here and in Tuaran sparked by a nikah or Muslim marriage ceremony had one new case Thursday as Sabah declared two new clusters including one started by a handover-of-duty ceremony in Kota Belud.

The nikah cluster called Seri Gaya raised its total of cases to 18 with the new case but only 14 are still active after the discharge of four cases, data from the Ministry of Health showed.

The number of people tested in the cluster, whose index patient is a 65-year-old local man, rose from 64 on Wednesday to 132 on Thursday.

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The index patient was detected on Oct 8 with symptoms of the novel coronavirus. Five family members in Kota Kinabalu and Tuaran, all locals, tested positive between Oct 8 and 19.

Eleven more family members in Kota Kinabalu were found positive on Wednesday.

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Sabah’s Covid-19 crisis spokesman Datuk Masidi Manjun, in a statement on Thursday, said a handover-of-duty ceremony started the Tuguson cluster in Kota Belud, which had four new cases and 18 total cases with 128 test results pending, data from the ministry indicated.

Masidi said the other new cluster named Sakti in Lahad Datu was started in an oil palm mill which data showed had seven new cases, 18 total cases, 101 negative results and 35 pending results.

Meanwhile, 12 clusters in Sabah including the two new ones recorded 55 new cases altogether on Thursday, data indicated.