Kota Kinabalu: Non-Sabahan travellers from other states entering Sabah for social visits as inter-state travels ease on Nov 1 will not need approval from the State Government and Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM), said Sabah’s Covid-19 spokesperson Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun.
“(They) only need to show proof that they are fully vaccinated and have a negative RTK screening result,” he said on his Twitter account, Saturday, adding that it was decided by the State Covid-19 management committee.
He added that the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for domestic travellers will be updated and released today (Sunday).
Sabah’s cases rose to 650 Saturday from 589 the day earlier, while five deaths were recorded – one each in Kinabatangan, Sandakan, Semporna, Tambunan and Tenom.
“It is observed that Sabah is experiencing an upward trend, when cases are evaluated with the daily graph from the past 14 days.
“This is not surprising given the easing of various economic and social activities as well as the level of SOP-compliance, which is beginning to decline among the population,” he said.
Masidi reminded the community to comply with the SOPs even if one is fully vaccinated, as the vaccine does not make one immune to infection.
“New cases every day show that on average 60 per cent of all daily infections are among those who have completed their vaccination,” he said.
On the caseload, Masidi said Kota Belud topped the list with 77 cases, followed by Tuaran (68), Beaufort (55), Kinabatangan (54), Ranau (48), Kota Kinabalu (47), Kota Marudu (46), Papar (35), Tawau (31) and Penampang (25).
“Districts recording a significant increase include Tuaran (+49), Kinabatangan (+40), Beaufort (+36), Kota Belud (+18), Tawau (+18), Sandakan (+11) and Putatan (+10).
“A significant decrease was recorded in Kudat (-24), Tenom (-21), Kota Kinabalu (-19), Tambunan (-12) and Lahad Datu (-12).
“Except for Kinabatangan and Tawau, districts in the East Coast show good containment of the Covid-19 transmissions with a small number of infections,” he said.
He added that 392 cases (60 per cent) were registered the day earlier, while 244 cases were overdue for two to three days. The remaining are backlogs from four to five days ago.
Masidi said 95.4 per cent of cases are category one and two infections that do not require hospital treatment.
“Two cases are in category three and four each in category four and five. 20 cases are still being evaluated by the State Health Department,” he said.
Some 412 Covid-19 patients have been discharged from the hospital while 1,813 patients are currently receiving treatment at hospitals, low risk quarantine and treatment centres (PKRCs), prisons/temporary detention centres and private facilities
Masidi said 80 patients are under critical care, with 78 in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)/repurposed critical care as well as two in the open ward (high dependency ward (HDW)/acute cubicle), with 22 needing ventilator support.
“Some 106 stage four and five patients (48.85 per cent) have not completed their vaccinations,” he added.
Sabah’s bed capacity is at 6,235 units with an occupancy rate of 29.08 per cent, he said.
On Sabah’s immunisation programme, Masidi said 11,669 individuals were vaccinated on Oct29, of which 8,550 were adults and 3,119 were teenagers.
“As of Oct 29, some 2,423,262 individuals have completed their first dose, of which 75.96 per cent were adults. Some 2,321,070 individuals have completed both doses of the vaccine, of which 74.27 per cent were adults,” he said.
He added that 327,940 teenagers have received their first dose, whereas 272,359 teenagers have been fully vaccinated thus far.
