Sabah’s cases rise to 909, four new school clusters

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s new Covid-19 cases jumped to 909 on Friday and four new school clusters were detected. There was one death each in Sandakan and Tuaran.

State Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun had warned the spike last month as the state Health Department conducted screenings among school hostel residents at several schools in the state.

The four new clusters are Kluster Jalan Pendidikan in Ranau, Kluster Sungai Batang Batu Sepuluh in Sandakan, Kluster Jalan Tandek and Kluster Jalan Taman Beringin, in Kota Marudu.

“The last time Sabah recorded more than 900 cases was on Sept 30 last year, about four months ago.

“A total of 89 cases were found from nine active clusters, including the four new clusters announced today,” he said.

The new cluster in Sandakan involved MRSM Tun Mohammad Fuad Stephens. A 16-year-old female student, who is the case index was detected through a symptomatic screening on Jan 25. Close contact screening found another 49 positive cases under Categoried 1 and 2.

Two new clusters in Kota Marudu involved a 15-year-old student of SMK Tandek 1 and a 17year-old student of SMK Bandau as index cases. The index case in SMK Tandek 1 started showing symptoms on Jan 15 and found positive with Covid-19 on Jan 17.

Close contact screening found 34 more cases from the school.

Meanwhile, the index case of SMK Bandau was found positive on Jan 19 before before conducting a health examination in Queen Elizabeth Hospital 2. Close contact screening detected 24 more individuals positive, including students and school staff.

The new cluster in Ranau involved SMK Mat Salleh, where a 19-year-old Form Six student was tested positive on Jan 29. Screening among schoolmates found 24 more cases, all under Categories 1 and 2.

From the 909 new cases on Feb 4, 900 patients are under Categories 1 and 2, five in Category 3, three in Category 4 and one in Category 5.