Sabah Brought-In-Dead Covid-19 Cases Shows Community Infection: Masidi

Sabah currently has over 6,000 backlogged Covid-19 test results, says Masidi Manjun.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 2 — Cases of Covid-19 patients in Sabah who died even before reaching a health facility shows that the state’s coronavirus infection is sporadic and in the community, Masidi Manjun said today.

“Brought-in-dead (BID) cases show the spread of infection at the community level, where it is not associated with any positive Covid-19 cases or clusters,” the Sabah state local government and housing minister told a virtual press conference reporting on Sabah’s daily Covid-19 cases today.

On October 28, The Star reported Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah as saying that 35 out of 44 BID cases were in Sabah during the third wave of the pandemic. These 35 Sabah BID cases comprised nearly a third of 110 Covid-19 deaths reported nationwide during the third wave.

Masidi, who is also Sabah’s Covid-19 spokesperson, pointed out that on October 28, out of the seven Covid-19 deaths reported in Sabah, three patients had died before reaching a health care facility.

According to CodeBlue’s analysis on unlinked Covid-19 cases from September 11 to October 14, about nine in 10 sporadic cases reported in the country were detected in Sabah. This situation was described by a physician from Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kota Kinabalu, who told CodeBlue that previously, during the first or second wave of the pandemic, Covid-19 cases were linked, but now in Sabah, it is everywhere, like “Ground Zero”.

Furthemore, Masidi also mentioned that all the labs in Sabah are running at maximum capacity to process Covid-19 test results.

“As of today, there are 6,139 test samples for Covid-19 in Sabah that are still waiting to be processed, including those which have been sent to private labs,” Masidi said.

However, he assured the public that the backlogged samples will be cleared in a few days.

As of today, Sabah’s infectivity rate or R0 (pronounced as R-naught) has declined from 1.6 a month ago to 1.0.

“The index value of infectivity in the state of Sabah generally has shown a declining pattern,” said Masidi.

An R0 value of more than one indicates that the virus will keep spreading, while a value below one indicates that the virus is likely dying out.

Sabah’s welfare department has also taken several measures to prevent coronavirus outbreaks in institutions such as old folks’ homes and disability homes for children, like the incident in Wallace Centre for the Blind in Tuaran, when a resident tested positive with Covid-19.

Masidi said these institutions will not be accepting any new cases, no social visits are allowed, staff on duty have to undergo daily sanitisation, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) will be tightened, while those residing in those institutions are also not allowed to go out.

Sabah’s Covid-19 Highlights

Today, Sabah reported 503 Covid-19 cases, bringing the total number of active Covid-19 cases in the state to 3,155 cases, among which 698 are being treated in hospital, while 2,457 of them are being treated at low-risk quarantine and treatment centres (PKRC).

Two new Covid-19 deaths were reported in Sabah, an 88-year-old Malaysian man in Sandakan and a 75-year-old Malaysian woman in Kota Kinabalu. No coronavirus-related fatalities were reported elsewhere in the country.

The total number of beds in Covid-19 hospitals and PKRC is 8,296 beds, with a current usage of 38.08 per cent.

There are 76 patients who are being treated in the intensive care unit while 23 of them are on ventilator support.

National Covid-19 Highlights

The federal Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 834 new Covid-19 cases nationwide today, about 60 per cent of which (503 cases) were detected in Sabah. The Klang Valley comprising Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya reported 157 cases, amounting to about 19 per cent.

Labuan recorded a spike of 105 new coronavirus infections today, a jump by almost six times from 18 cases yesterday. A new cluster, Tenaga cluster, reported 57 Covid-19 cases. This cluster in Labuan was detected from a targeted screening on high-risk communities.

Out of the 834 new Covid-19 cases nationwide, 831 cases were local transmissions:

  • Sabah: 503 cases (one new cluster, PTS Tawau)
  • Selangor: 129 cases
  • Labuan: 105 cases (one new cluster, Tenaga)
  • Penang: 21 cases
  • Kuala Lumpur: 20 cases
  • Negeri Sembilan: 16 cases (one new cluster, Gedong)
  • Sarawak: 14 cases (one new cluster, Wisma Saberkas)
  • Putrajaya: 6 cases (one new cluster, Seridana)
  • Kedah: 3 cases
  • Perak: 3 cases
  • Kelantan: 2 cases
  • Pahang: 1 case

A total of 91 Covid-19 patients are being treated in the intensive care unit, including 32 on ventilator support.

Possible MCO-Like SOPs On Social And Sports Activities

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said earlier today that many districts in Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Perak, and Johor have started recording locally transmitted Covid-19 cases in a week or two, despite previously recording zero infections in the past fortnight. Some districts in those states have also turned red, reporting more than 40 local Covid-19 cases in the past 14 days.

“I have instructed NSC (National Security Council) to re-evaluate and tighten SOPs on social and sports activities to break the chain of Covid-19 transmission. If possible, tighten the SOPs until they’re almost like MCO (Movement Control Order) SOPs”.

Only Sabah and the Klang Valley are currently under a Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO).

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