Kota Kinabalu: Covid-19 transmission among children in Sabah is increasing with some 518 kids below age 12 found positive on Sunday, said Sabah’s Covid-19 Spokesperson Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun.
“There are 189 children below age five and 329 unvaccinated children aged between five and 11 that were infected with the virus. It is highly recommended that parents and school managements take the necessary steps to reduce the risk of transmission among children, especially those ineligible for the vaccine,” he said.
Masidi said Sabah recorded 3,891 cases on Sunday, with Kota Kinabalu recording the highest cases with 914, followed by Sandakan (478), Tuaran (414), Penampang (389), Papar (256), Tawau (245), Lahad Datu (184), Beaufort (133), Ranau (119) and Kota Belud (100).
He said although the caseload reduced slightly from 4,107 the day earlier, cases are still expected to surge in the near future due to the high rate of sporadic infections.
“Sporadic infections are the main factor in districts recording a high number of cases. Overall, 58.52 per cent of the 3,891 caseload are sporadic.
“Districts with three-digit cases record a high percentage of sporadic cases, such as Kota Kinabalu (68%), Sandakan (78%), Tuaran (49.2%), Penampang (45.7%), Papar (55.8%), Tawau (57.1%), Lahad Datu (60.8%), Beaufort (52.6%), Ranau (85.7%) and Kota Belud (42%).
“We can conclude that the high percentage of sporadic infections is the cause of the rapid and widespread spread of the virus in these areas and it will be a determining factor of the number of new cases in the near future.
“Although the number today decreased slightly compared to the day earlier, it is likely that lower figures will not last when taking into account the very high percentage of sporadic cases,” he said.
No new clusters were recorded, while five deaths were recorded, two each in Tuaran and Tawau and one in Telupid.
Masidi said the majority of cases are mild, with 3,881 cases being category one and two infections, which is 99.74 per cent of the caseload.
“There are four cases in category three, four in category four and two in category five,” he added. Some 620 Covid-19 patients have been discharged from the hospital while 2,776 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 12,755 individuals were vaccinated on Feb 12, of which 10,047 were adults while 243 were teenagers and 2,465 were children.
As of Feb 12, he said a total of 2,411,737 individuals have completed both doses, of which 77.24 per cent were adults, while 2,464,144 have gotten their first dose, of which 77.96 per cent were adults.
Masidi added that a total of 337,874 teenagers have received their first dose, while 313,339 have completed both doses, which is 73.52 per cent of the teenage population. A total of 8,321 children have received their first dose.
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