High cases due to backlog
KOTA KINABALU: The exceptionally high daily Covid-19 cases in Sabah was due to the backlog of 18,000 Covid-19 tests in early October, said Local Government and Housing Minister cum State Finance Minister II, Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun.
Masidi, who is the State’s official Covid-19 spokesperson, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) had managed to reduce the backlog to 11,000 on Saturday, meaning that the test results of around 7,000 old samples were only recently known.
“These results, combined with the new cases, contributed to the high number of Covid-19 cases in Sabah today.
“The 702 cases today were derived from new cases and old samples, which test results were only known last night,” he said at a press conference to update the pandemic situation in Sabah here yesterday.
He expected the daily figures to run high over the next few days given the remaining 11,000 backlog of test samples.
“I envisage the high number of cases to continue for the next couple of days until the backlog of 11,000 tests have been cleared.”
On another note, Masidi assured that the hospitals in Sabah were capable of coping with the needs of Covid-19 patients.
He said there were now 22 quarantine and low-risk treatment centres and nine Covid-19 hospitals in Sabah.
He said patients in Stage 1 and 2 would be given treatment in the makeshift hospitals to allow patients in more serious conditions to receive intensive care in hospitals.
“There are now 1,383 patients in hospitals and 4,174 in makeshift hospitals catered for low-risk patients.”
He said Sabah had to be more creative in managing Covid-19 patients. Upon discussion with the Health director general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, Masidi said low-risk patients would be placed in makeshift hospitals such as Likas Sports Complex.
“If the whole family is infected, we are thinking maybe all of them be quarantined at home where they will be administered treatment as well.
“This will ease the need for hospital beds.
“We are still in the position to manage the issue so long as there is no exponential growth in new Covid-19 cases.”
Masidi also refuted rumours that government hospitals have run out of personal protective equipment (PPE). He said there was no shortage of PPE in hospitals and if there was a surge in demand for PPE, other hospitals in Sabah would send the equipment to hospitals in need.
Additionally, he said the Royal Malaysian Air Force would fly in PPE and other equipment to Sabah periodically if necessary.
Through Special Envoy to China, Dato Seri Tiong King Sing, and MCBC Executive Director Dato T.S. Yong, a philanthropist, Tan Tan Sri Desmond Lim Siew Choon, donated RM2 million to the Sabah Tabung Covid-19.
Sabah Economic Development Corporation (SEDCO) has pledged RM1 million to the fund as well.
Masidi said SEDCO’s donation would be used to pay for the accommodation, food and other expenses of medical personnel deployed to Sabah from Peninsular Malaysia as well as army personnel stationed at the field hospital in Tawau, which will commence operation on October 20.