Kota Kinabalu: The State Government on Wednesday decided to allow eateries to operate an additional two hours from 6am to midnight effective Oct 1.
Sabah’s Covid-19 Spokesperson Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said this applies to coffeeshops, restaurants, stalls, food trucks, roadside and mobile hawkers, hawker centres, food courts and restaurants inside hotels as well as sports and recreation club houses.
Supermarkets, hypermarkets, convenience stores, mini markets and sundry shops are also given an additional two hours to operate from 6am to 10pm.
“Shopping malls are allowed to operate from 6am to 10pm but only for subsectors (in the mall) that are allowed to operate.
“Petrol stations including its convenience store are allowed to operate from 5am to midnight,” said Masidi.
Masidi said employers of staff who have only completed their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine may request for a temporary exemption from the Local Authority to allow workers to enter the premises.
He said employers must list the names of the staff involved, the date of their first AstraZeneca dose and the scheduled date of their second dose.
Additionally, Masidi reminded the public to continue abiding by the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and to practise physical distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As such, any individual who is symptomatic, at risk or is a close contact, must undergo screening, especially if they have high-risk family members that are senior citizens, chronically ill with comorbidities or have children below 12 who are ineligible for the vaccine.
“This step is greatly needed to curb the spread of Covid-19 within the community,” he stressed.
Sabah’s caseload is back in the four digits with 1,000 new cases on Wednesday, while 22 deaths were recorded – eight in Sandakan, three in Kunak, two each in Kota Belud, Putatan and Tawau and one each in Semporna, Kota Kinabalu, Tambunan, Lahad Datu and Kalabakan.
One new cluster was identified in Ranau, named as the Mokodou Cluster involving community transmission which sparked from a 65-year-old male who was tested positive at the Ranau Hospital on Sept 25.
Masidi said earlier investigations found that his wife passed away at their home in Kg Mokodou due to stage four breast cancer on Sept 15.
“The last respects ceremony was held at his house which was attended by nearly 60 per cent of Kg Mokodou residents as well as families from Kg Tumbalang.
“Close contact screenings were conducted on Sept 27 and 28 which found an increased number of positive cases in Mukim Malinsau and Mukim Timbua among family members and contacts who had attended the funeral in Kg Tumbalang,” Masidi explained.
He said out of 146 individuals screened, 94 were found positive.
On Sabah’s caseload, Masidi said Kota Kinabalu topped the list with 114 cases, followed by Ranau (99), Sandakan (96), Kota Marudu (70), Keningau (66), Kota Belud (59) and Penampang (58).
He said close contacts topped the caseload with 551 cases (55.1 per cent) followed by symptomatic cases with 349 (34.9 per cent).
“Of the 1,000 caseload, 326 cases were overdue from two to three days ago, 24 were from four to five days ago while five cases were overdue from over five days ago.
“Cases overdue from over four days ago is less than three per cent, which signifies an improvement in data management,” said Masidi.
He said category two infections topped the caseload with 715 cases, while 232 were in category one, two in category three, seven in category four, and five in category five. 39 cases are still being evaluated while 95.3 per cent of patients are Malaysians.
Some 1,273 Covid-19 patients have been discharged from the hospital while 3,233 patients are currently receiving treatment at hospitals, low risk quarantine and treatment centres (PKRCs), prisons/temporary detention centres and private facilities.
Masidi said 139 patients are under critical care, with 124 in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)/repurposed critical care as well as 15 in the open ward (high dependency ward (HDW)/acute cubicle), with 51 needing ventilator support.
On Sabah’s immunisation programme, Masidi said a total of 2,279,823 individuals have completed their first dose as of Sept 28, of which 73.7 per cent were adults.
“Whereas the number of Sabahans that have fully completed their vaccination is 1,761,448, of which 63.9 per cent were adults,” he said.