Masidi Manjun
KOTA KINABALU (Sept 30): Sabah recorded 993 new Covid-19 cases, 20 deaths and a new community cluster in Long Pasia which was linked to a birthday celebration.
The deaths were recorded in Sandakan (8), Pitas (4), Papar (2), Tawau (2), Kudat (1), Kinabatangan (1), Kota Marudu (1) and Penampang (1).
Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun expressed disappointment with the new cluster and the one in Ranau on Wednesday as members of the public were still not taking the standard operating procedure (SOP) seriously.
“The new cluster registered in Long Pasia, Sipitang is linked to the birthday celebration attended by the villagers and to date, 25 people have been found positive as a result of screening conducted on 30 individuals.
“The Kluster Long Pasia and the Kluster Mokodou in Ranau are quite disappointing. These two cases clearly show that there are still some of our residents who do not take the SOPs and advice of Ministry of Health seriously.
“Negligence have resulted in Covid-19 virus infection involving many populations,” he said.
The cluster in Ranau was started off by a funeral gathering.
Masidi urged district officers, community leaders especially at the grassroots level and village development and security committee chairmen to monitor social events in the village to ensure strict compliance with all SOPs.
He said cooperation of the people is very important to enable us to win the war against the Covid-19 pandemic.
Close contact screening remains the major contributor of overall cases in Sabah on Thursday with 487 cases, symptomatic screening 357, 18 cases of cluster screening, five cases of targeted screening and 126 cases through other screening.
Of the 993 cases registered on Thursday, 109 cases or 10.98 per cent were patients in Category 1, 799 cases or 80.46 per cent in Category 2, one case in Category 3, six cases in Category 4 and eight cases in Category 5. Seventy cases are still under investigation.