KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 14 — New Covid-19 cases continue to be reported in the community in Sabah, beyond a prison cluster, with authorities reporting five unlinked cases today, following 10 local cases of unknown origin over the weekend.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) reported today that a Covid-19 case was detected at the Merotai public health clinic in Tawau during a senior citizen screening, while another case was identified through a pre-surgical screening at Kudat Hospital.
Another case in Sabah was detected through a referral screening case at Tawau Hospital, while a severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) screening revealed a Covid-19 case in Lahad Datu Hospital. Next, a case was identified in a detainee at the Kudat district police headquarters.
All of the five community cases were detected among Malaysians. A Malaysian close contact of Patient 9,454, the son of the patient, was also detected in Sabah with the coronavirus, according to Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
A total of 17 new coronavirus cases were reported in the Benteng Lahad Datu cluster in Sabah, consisting of nine Malaysians and eight foreigners. Sabah recorded two imported cases as well, among the returnees from Indonesia. That brings the total number of Covid-19 cases in Sabah to 25 today.
On September 12, Sabah recorded one community case during a pre-surgical screening at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu.
The next day, on September 13, the state identified nine community cases whose sources of transmission were unknown, consisting of six Malaysians and three foreign nationals. The nine local cases comprised four from a screening of the elderly at a public health clinic, two from screening at a quarantine centre, a screening of a health care worker, a screening of a detainee at the Kudat district police headquarters, and one case from an influenza-like illness screening.
According to MOH’s 14-day Covid-19 case distribution today on new local cases reported within the past fortnight, Sabah has reported red zones in Tawau (335 cases) and Lahad Datu (94 cases), as well as yellow zones in Kunak (four cases), Kudat (three cases), Kinabatangan (one case), and Tuaran (one case). It is unknown why the graphic did not include the September 12 report of the pre-surgical case in Kota Kinabalu.
Of the 17 new cases today in the Benteng LD cluster, 16 cases were reported in Tawau while one was reported in Lahad Datu. So far a total of 5,402 individuals have been screened in the Benteng LD cluster and 420 cases have been positively detected with Covid-19.
A total of 1,822 people were tested negative while 3,160 are still waiting for the test results.
The breakdown of Covid-19 cases in the Benteng LD cluster is as below:
- 913 prisoners and detainees were screened and 391 cases were positive.
- 987 staff from the Lahad Datu district police headquarters and Tawau prison were screened and 10 cases were positive.
- 1,234 family members of staff and prisoners were screened and nine of them were positive.
- 881 other government agency officers were screened and all of them tested negative.
- 1,387 social contacts were screened and ten were detected with coronavirus.
Of the total 420 positive Covid-19, 185 are Malaysians and the balance 235 are foreigners from the Philippines and Indonesia. Majority of the cases in the Benteng LD cluster were found in Tawau with 331 cases, while the remaining 89 cases were reported in Lahad Datu.
Health Minister Dr Adham Baba said that MOH is considering imposing a mandatory quarantine for those who are coming back to Peninsular Malaysia after Sabah’s state election.
However, yesterday, Senior Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob insisted that people returning to Peninsular Malaysia from Sabah will not be required to undergo mandatory quarantine.
It is to be noted that leaders of various political parties have travelled to Sabah from the peninsula and Sarawak for the state election campaign.
MOH also identified four Covid-19 cases in the Bunga cluster through the second sampling of a total of 22 ship crew, who are still on board in a ship docked at Port Dickson, Negri Sembilan. The Bunga cluster was identified on September 1, involving a crew in a ship which had travelled to Singapore port earlier.
As of today, a total of 59 individuals have been screened in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, and Terengganu, under this cluster. Ten positive cases were identified in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan, while 49 people tested negative.
The Sungai cluster in Kedah also recorded one new Covid-19 case in the state today. As of today, a total of 16,775 individuals have been screened in Kedah, Penang and Perlis. The Sungai cluster recorded 58 Covid-19 cases so far. A total of 13,986 individuals tested negative with the coronavirus, while 2,731 are still waiting for the test results.
Another imported case from Indonesia was reported in Kuala Lumpur, bringing the total number of Covid-19 cases in the country to 9,946, with 615 active cases.
Today, seven Covid-19 patients were discharged. That brings the total number of recovered Covid-19 patients to 9,203. A total of 11 patients are still receiving treatment in intensive care unit (ICU) with five under ventilator support. The death toll pertaining to Covid-19 remains at 128 in the country.
