KOTA KINABALU – Sabah Health Director Dr Rose Nani Mudin has not dismissed the possibility of Covid-19 infections in the state hitting a breaking point.
The surge in daily cases remains high, second only to Selangor, and the Health Department is preparing for the worst.
“At the moment, the situation is still under control.
“The number of daily cases are high and the department has had meetings with the Health Ministry and state government over the matter.
“We also engaged with the private sectors and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to prepare for the worst.
“The Sabah Health Department is monitoring the situation closely and we already have contingency plans if the situation worsens,” she told The Vibes.
The state government has declared that lockdowns alone will not be able to halt the spread of Covid-19 as the virus is already within communities.
A total of 37,319 people have been infected over the past two weeks between August 15 and 28, with most of the cases under Categories 1 and 2.
Some 60% of these cases were contributed by backlogged results.
Last week, the state saw over 3,000 daily cases, but the numbers decreased to over 2,000 yesterday.
Although the numbers have dwindled, this does not mean Sabah is out of the woods.
Dr Liew Houng Bang, consultant cardiologist at Queen Elizabeth II Hospital was quoted by The Borneo Post as saying that looking at the current trend, the percentage of weekly caseload surges since mid-July has been so exponential that the spike it predicted is expected to worsen sooner than expected.
“The current 3,000 daily cases on average lately is not alarming on its own, but in context, Sabah’s cases are higher than the national daily incidence at 82 cases per 100,000 people, compared with Malaysia’s 69 cases per 100,000 people,” he said during a webinar organised by the Sabah Disaster Preparedness Association last Saturday.
The state has been recording unprecedented numbers, with 20,983 Covid-19 cases over the last week, 25% more than the previous week and nearly five times more than it had in the third week of July (4,497 cases).
A Malay Mail report predicted that the state will hit 6,000 Covid-19 infections by mid-September.
Latest figures show that a total of 1,047,277 or 38% of Sabahans have been fully vaccinated.
Figures released from the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee show that Sabah’s total inoculations administered stand between 35,000 and 47,000 doses daily for both first and second doses. – The Vibes, August 30, 2021
