Three health workers started new cluster in Sandakan, Lahad Datu

Kota Kinabalu: Three health workers started a new cluster in Sandakan and Lahad Datu announced by the Ministry of Health on Wednesday, data from the ministry showed.

The health workers from Sandakan and Lahad Datu were found positive on Oct 24-25, before two local social contacts in Lahad Datu were found positive on Oct 30-Nov 3 in the cluster named “Dialisis”.

On Wednesday, 14 more individuals, all locals, were found positive for the virus also in Lahad Datu, raising the total of cases to 19.

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The ministry did not state where and how the cluster started but the name of the cluster suggests it has something to do with a dialysis centre or practice which has its own stringent standard operating procedures (SOPs) to prevent the disease from spreading during treatment.

Daily Express has not been able to establish whether authorities will tighten its SOPs related to the dialysis treatment following discovery of the cluster.

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The ministry announced two other new clusters named Sandakan Prison and Sepanggar in Kota Kinabalu on Wednesday.

Latest ministry data showed a 23-year-old local man in Kota Kinabalu, found positive on Oct 24, started the Sepanggar cluster that now has eight positive cases.

Data also showed a 35-year-old asymptomatic foreigner was the index patient of the Sandakan Prison cluster that now has 39 active cases.