KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 — More than 10,000 test samples from Sabah have yet to be processed, a state minister said, as 673 Covid-19 cases were reported in the state today.
Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister Masidi Manjun told a press conference on Sabah’s Covid-19 cases that he hoped the samples will be cleared within three to four days, and that statistics of Covid-19 cases in the state will be reduced after that.
“According to the statistics we have from the Health Department, there are still 10,400 old samples that have not been processed. This means, to some extent, the figure in these few days may be in the same frame as it contributes to the amount recorded when these samples are processed,” Masidi said.
“We hope we can resolve these samples or results in three or four days.”
It is unclear what is the positivity rate of Covid-19 tests in Sabah since the start of October during the current new coronavirus wave, as the Ministry of Health (MOH) has only released the Sabah test positivity rate from the beginning of the nationwide outbreak in January.
Kota Kinabalu recorded 43 per cent (289 cases) of the cumulative number of 673 Covid-19 cases reported in Sabah today. Today marked the third straight day of over 600 coronavirus infections reported daily in the state.
Out of the 289 cases in the state capital reported today, 231 were from the Penjara Kepayan cluster.
Tawau had the second highest number of Covid-19 cases reported in the state today with 130 positive Covid-19 cases, followed by 63 cases in Semporna.
Furthermore, Sabah has reported three deaths as of today, out of which one was also reported in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kota Kinabalu. This case (death case 193) involved a 90-year-old woman with underlying hypertension and heart disease.
The other two death cases were reported in Tawau Hospital. Death case 191 was a 78-year-old man with hypertension, dyslipidemia, and heart disease, while death case 192 was a 59-year-old woman with hypertension, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease.
It is to be noted that 50 people in Sabah have died from the coronavirus in 13 consecutive days from October 8 to October 20.
Today, MOH also reported a new cluster in Kota Belud, Sabah, which had a total of 21 positive Covid-19 cases.
Currently, Sabah has a total number of 5,466 active Covid-19 cases, which is 71 per cent of the 7,681 cumulative active Covid-19 cases in Malaysia.
Previously, CodeBlue reported that since the September 26 Sabah state elections, the number of cases in Sabah have been doubling quicker. Sabah has been reporting over 100 Covid-19 cases continuously every day from October 1 till now, and cases are doubling in a very short period of time.
