Sabah's biggest cluster sees its first single-digit daily cases today

Kota Kinabalu: Sabah's biggest Covid-19 cluster Kepayan Prison, the largest contributor to the daily caseload of Sabah and its capital district, saw its first single-digit daily cases on Tuesday.

The cluster recorded only seven new cases today after recording double and mostly triple-digit cases for nine consecutive days since its announcement on Oct 18, data from the Ministry of Health showed.

The cluster, which now had 1,658 active cases, had been the reason for Sabah and its capital district to record hundreds of daily cases lately and up to 927 and 532 cases respectively on Monday, both new records.

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The cluster, which was contained in Kota Kinabalu so far and became Sabah's biggest cluster after overtaking Benteng LD which was spread over five west and east-coast districts, was apparently again the reason for Sabah and Kota Kinabalu to record a much lower latest caseload Tuesday at 410 and 85 respectively.

While a dissipating major cluster provides some relief to Sabahans and contributes to a much lower caseload for Sabah and its capital, the state's daily close contact and other screening cases remain high, that is in the 200s and 100s range respectively, which still contributed to Sabah's high daily cases.

The trend remained when it recorded 218 close contact and 132 other screening cases on Tuesday with both types of infections not showing signs of easing yet.

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The steady high numbers of the two categories of infections showed the virus is very much in the community, as Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has warned, as opposed to cases isolated in clusters.

Noor Hisham has been urging citizens to stick to the new norms to help cut the chain of transmissions especially within the community.

Meanwhile, Kota Marudu became Sabah's latest and 19th red zone or district with 40 or more active cases when the district recorded 10 more cases on Tuesday.

The development left only seven yellow zones or districts with one to 39 active cases and one green zone or district with none.