Kota Kinabalu: Sabah’s sporadic infections shot up to 71 per cent on Thursday, the highest rate recorded to date, said Sabah’s Covid-19 spokesperson Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun. “A total of 24 out of 27 districts experienced the same trend, where sporadic infections are high in these areas. Due to this, we greatly urge the public to abide by all standard operating procedures (SOPs) at all times as a defence against Covid-19,” he said.
Seven deaths were recorded, two each in Kota Belud and Tenom, and one each in Kota Kinabalu, Kinabatangan and Sipitang, while no new clusters were identified. Masidi said Kota Kinabalu topped the list with 1,350 cases, which accounted for nearly half of the caseload.
“However, a large number of cases in Kota Kinabalu stem from backlogs that were just registered. A total of 555 cases recorded in Kota Kinabalu on Thursday were backlogs of more than nine days. What is even more worrying is that 84 per cent of cases are sporadic transmissions within the community,” said Masidi.
He said five districts recorded three-digit cases, namely Penampang (184), Tuaran (131), Papar (120), Keningau (113) and Beaufort (108). Of the caseload, Masidi said 333 cases involved children under age 11, of which 172 were below five. He said a majority of cases are mild with 2,690 out of 2,717 cases being category one and two infections. “Four cases are in category three, 17 in category four and six in category five,” he added.
Some 3,985 Covid-19 patients have been discharged from the hospital while 1,543 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 15,275 individuals were vaccinated on March 2, of which 12,881 were adults while 72 were teenagers and 2,322 were children.
As of March 1, he said a total of 2,413,683 individuals have completed both doses, of which 77.3 per cent were adults, while 2,509,536 have gotten their first dose, of which 78.02 per cent were adults. Masidi added that a total of 339,007 teenagers have received their first dose, while 313,726 have completed both doses, which is 73.6 per cent of the teenage population. A total of 53,371children have received their first dose.
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