KOTA KINABALU: With the current Covid-19 virus infection trend in Tawau at a worrying level, the State Government has decided that operating hours for all businesses in the district will be from 9 am to 5 pm daily and will take effect immediately.
This new operating hours also applies for businesses in Kalabakan, state government official Covid-19 spokesperson Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun said.
Yesterday Tawau recorded 58 cases with one fatality out of the total 259 cases and two fatalities in Sabah.
“We appeal to residents in Tawau and Kalabakan to strictly comply to the businesses new operating hours so that the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic can be stopped,” said Masidi.
The Local Government and Housing Minister in his daily update to the media also said two new clusters were recorded yesterday namely the Gambaron cluster in Telupid Sandakan and the Kampung Blok 31, Tawau cluster.
The Gambaron cluster has 12 cases and the index is a 32-year-old man who had showed symptoms associated with Covid-19 since May 26 before testing positive for the virus on June 2 at the Klinik Kesihatan Telupid.
A follow up screening of close contacts detected eight positive cases at his work place in Kampung Gambaron and in Telupid district as well as one case in Sandakan. Investigations revealed that the man was believed to have been infected during a social gathering at a cafe in Telupid.
The spread of the virus there was also contributed by the fact that some of the man’s colleagues had gone home to a high risk area (Tawau) to celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri from May 7 to 17.
So far, 136 individuals have been screened and investigations into the source of the infection is in progress, said Masidi.
According to him, visiting during the recent Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration was found to be the cause of the cluster recorded in Kampung Blok 31.
The cluster was recorded after tests on a deceased 71-year-old woman who was sent to the Tawau District Hospital on May 27 was positive, he said adding that screening of the housewife’s close contacts on May 31 revealed that three of them had been infected.
“Today, 21 positive cases were detected making the total 31 cases and authorities are now tracing the contacts and identifying the source of infection,” said Masidi.
He also said that due to the last rites and last respect of a deceased individual being the cause of the Pulutan Nabawan cluster, the state government through the State Covid-19 disaster management committee decided to issue a Standard Operating Proceedure (SOP) for the last rites and last respect ceremony of a non-Muslim individual.
The SOP, he said, is to prevent similar cases from happening as the Pulutan Cluster was the second in Nabawan after the Sinsingon cluster reported on February 22 this year.
The SOP, Masidi added, takes effect immediately and will be in force until June 14.
Under the new SOP, a wake that is held in a private residence is only allowed from 6 am to 6 pm for three days and the family of the deceased must ensure that the standard SOP of temperature taking and attendance recording either manually or via MySejahtera be in place.
Those paying their last respects can stay a maximum of five minutes and only three members of the deceased family are allowed to be with them. Prayers for the deceased after the funeral are allowed for two hours, from 7 pm to 9 pm for 10 days and only 10 family members are allowed to participate.
For a wake in the funeral parlor, those wishing to pay their last respect can do so from 7 am to 6 pm. All other SOP as that of a wake held in a private residence must be in place and adhered to.
Meanwhile Masidi said that out of the 259 cases, 154 were from close contact screening, 47 from cluster screening, 37 from symptomatic screening, four from targeted screening and 17 from other sources.
Eleven districts recorded a decrease in the number of cases while 11 others recorded an increase in cases.
“The increase and decrease of cases in Sabah is not static and there are only two districts which are still in the green zone category. The glaring reduction of the green zones showed the possibility of high non-compliance of the SOP.
“I therefore appeal to the rakyat to please stay at home and for those who have to go out to work, to please limit their movements because preventing the spread or new infection of the Covid-19 virus will be influenced by how far the community comply with the self imposed SOP and the SOP implemented by the state Government,” said Masidi.