651 cases, two deaths, two new clusters
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah recorded 651 new positive Covid19 cases and two deaths in Kota Kinabalu and Sipitang on Monday.
Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun said 372 cases or 57.14 per cent of the new infections were reported from screening of 17 clusters, in which the prison cluster continued to dominate with 172 cases or 25.83 per cent of the daily cumulative.
He said two new clusters, namely Pauh Cluster in Kinabatangan and Angsana Cluster in Papar, also contributed 20 and seven cases respectively.
Kota Kinabalu registered the most cases on Monday with 244 new infections, followed by Keningau (90), Tawau (60), Kalabakan (40), Sandakan (39), Beaufort (37), Sipitang (28), Kinabatangan (24), Papar (24), Penampang (17) and Ranau (14).
Meanwhile, Tuaran recorded eight cases, Semporna (7), Kunak (5), Putatan (4), Kudat (3), Kota Marudu (3), Telupid (1), Pitas (1) and Beluran (1).
Masidi, who is Sabah’s Covid19 spokesperson, said both Kota Marudu and Kinabatangan were upgraded from orange to red zone.
He said the 244 cases in Kota Kinabalu originated from cluster screenings of the Tembok Kota Kinabalu Cluster (146) and Agora Borneo Cluster (4), 49 cases from close contact screenings, 11 from symptomatic screenings, 30 from targeted screenings and four from other screenings.
On the new clusters, he said the Paul Cluster at Kampung Pauh in the Buang Sayang subdistrict of Kinabatangan was categorized as community cluster.
The index case is a 21-year-old Indonesian man, a worker at a private oil palm plantation, who tested positive in a screening at Beluran Health Office upon entry into the plantation on July 12.
Close contact screenings detected another 23 positive cases among family members, social contacts and dependents.
The second cluster, Angsana Cluster in Papar involved the spread of Covid-19 within the community.
Masidi said the cluster was detected when a female kidney patient, 66, who undergoes thrice weekly treatment at a private dialysis unit at Jalan Lintas, Kepayan, tested positive in a symptomatic screening on July 10.
Of the 77 samples taken, 29 were found to be positive including seven new cases on Monday that involved close contacts in Kg Seberang Benoni, Kg Takis, Kg Surati and Taman Aman Suria in Papar.
Forty-eight of the samples were negative and 19 pending results.
On the other hand, Masidi said 231 Covid-19 patients have recovered or discharged from hospitals, whereas 3,322 patients were still undergoing treatment, including 467 in hospitals, 1,953 in Low-Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centres and 902 in temporary detention centres or prisons.