Kota Kinabalu: Sabah’s Covid-19 spokesperson Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun encouraged the public to get their booster shots, given Sabah’s low booster vaccination rate which sits at 14 per cent to date.
“It is proven that the booster shot can lessen the severe effects of Covid-19, while also lowering the risk of death due to the virus.
“For example, out of 44 brought-in-deaths from Jan 1 to Feb 17 this year, 42 involved those who did not get their booster shots, which is 95 per cent.
“The other two deaths involved those who had gotten their booster jabs, which in comparison is only five per cent,” he said in a statement, Monday.
As such, Masidi encouraged those who have not been boosted to do so.
“The public can get their booster shots at their nearest health clinic and also at vaccination centres that dispense the booster dose, which will be opened up all over Sabah later on,” he said.
Sabah’s cases dipped to 4,770 on Monday from 5,007 the day earlier.
However, Masidi said the downward trend will not be permanent due to the high number of sporadic infections which was 63.56 per cent of the caseload.
Five deaths were recorded, two in Kota Kinabalu and one each in Kota Belud, Sandakan and Tawau. No new clusters were identified.
Of the 4,770 caseload, 234 were children aged below five, with 62 being infants aged below one, while 322 involved children aged between five and 11.
Masidi said Kota Kinabalu topped the list with 1,198 cases, followed by Penampang (596), Papar (433), Tuaran (412), Tawau (372), Putatan (298), Kota Belud (192), Keningau (143), Beaufort (127), Kota Marudu (121) and Sandakan (118).
He said several districts recorded a very high number of sporadic infections, including Kota Kinabalu (68.78 per cent), Penampang (68.28 per cent), Papar (72.5 per cent), Tuaran (48.78 per cent), Tawau (78.76 per cent), Putatan (78.52 per cent) and Kota Belud (54.68 per cent).
The majority of cases are mild, with 99.69 per cent of cases being category one and two infections, while eight were in category three, six in category four and one in category five.
Some 2,633 Covid-19 patients have been discharged from the hospital while 2,794 patients are currently receiving treatment at hospitals, low-risk quarantine and treatment centres (PKRCs), prisons/temporary detention centres and private facilities.
On Sabah’s immunisation programme, Masidi said 11,859 individuals were vaccinated on Feb 20, of which 8,686 were adults while 69 were teenagers and 3,104 were children.
As of Feb 20, he said a total of 2,412,537 individuals have completed both doses, of which 77.27 per cent were adults, while 2,485,533 have gotten their first dose, of which 77.98 per cent were adults.
Masidi added that a total of 338,443 teenagers have received their first dose, while 313,529 have completed both doses, which is 73.56 per cent of the teenage population. A total of 28,607 children have received their first dose.
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