Kota Kinabalu: No Sabahans returning from Umrah have so far been found among those who have not been vaccinated, according to Sabah’s Covid-19 spokesperson Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun.
“We are waiting for details on those involved, but as far as I know, there have been no Sabahans implicated,” he said after meeting Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport Terminal Two, here, Saturday.
The Prime Minister is in Sabah to visit flood victims in Kota Marudu and Pitas.
“To be honest, despite the rather strong campaign against vaccination, by far and large we are quite happy with the response from Sabahans. They are very cooperative,” said Masidi.
According to the Malaysian Health Ministry, 10 Malaysians who tested positive for the Covid-19 Omicron strain after returning to the country had no immunisation records.
Investigations are underway to understand how the 10 were permitted to travel abroad without being vaccinated.
The first Omicron case in Sabah was discovered on Jan 4 in Tawau, involving a Sabahan who did Umrah in Saudi Arabia with his wife between Dec 9 and 18 and returned to Malaysia via the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Dec 19.
The man and his wife arrived in Tawau on Dec 20 and were placed under home quarantine until the whole genomic sequencing of his sample revealed that he was positive for Omicron.
Both were released from quarantine on Jan 1 and are now free of the illness. The results of the sequencing for his wife’s sample are still awaiting. Only one Omicron Covid-19 variant instance has been discovered in Sabah, he added.
“The State Health Department is constantly reviewing all current instances to verify that there are no other cases beyond the one detected in Tawau,” he said.
Meanwhile, Masidi said the number of Sabahans who departed for Umrah has yet to be revealed, adding, “They left periodically on separate days, so we don’t know the figures yet.”
Masidi was also unable to provide the number of Sabahans who were able to return to the State after Umrah before December 28, when the State enforced mandatory quarantine in Kuala Lumpur for all returning Sabahans.
“I don’t have exact data, but there are those who were allowed to return because the restrictions had not yet been implemented.
“At that time, all returning Sabahans must go through a health screening as well as a mandatory house quarantine.
“Other than the one in Tawau, no other Omicron cases have been reported in Sabah,” he said.
When asked if the State planned to put limitations on persons returning from Labuan, Masidi underlined Sabah’s stance of not reacting in a knee-jerk manner, especially in light of the number of new Covid-19 cases from the Omicron-linked cluster of Jalan OKK Awang Besar Saudi in Labuan.
“I don’t believe we should react in a knee-jerk manner. I believe it will eventually have to be founded on medical science. In reality, I believe that whatever response is taken should be based on medical research, and that we should not panic.
“What we see in Labuan is something we need to learn from, and the lesson is that enforcement must be adequately enforced since we never know what may happen next.”
“From what we know, Omicron has a faster transmission rate or infection than other Covid-19 types, despite its physical effect not being as bad as Delta,” he said.
He referenced the recently enacted guidelines requiring all Umrah-returning Sabahans to undergo quarantine in Kuala Lumpur as an example of successful enforcement.
“Effective enforcement implies enforcing rules and regulations that may not be popular with the general public.
“For example, I heard that many people were upset when we introduced restrictions requiring persons returning from Umrah to undergo quarantine in Kuala Lumpur.
“We had a really significant complaint,” he said.
“But in my opinion, everyone should be willing to go through some inconvenience to some level in order to prevent getting into an even worse situation.”
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