KOTA KINABALU – Thirty-six students tested positive for Covid-19 during a screening carried out on Form Five and Six students who returned to their hostels on January 16.
This comes after candidates sitting for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia and Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia resumed their physical lessons today.
Sabah Covid-19 secretariat spokesman Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said the state disaster management committee had provided internet service for the students so that they can continue with their revisions online.
Earlier today, state education director Datuk Mistrine Radin said there were no infections involving hostel students as healthcare workers had conducted screening before they were allowed to board the hostels.
All the positive cases have been sent directly to the quarantine centres following the hostel student screenings, which were provided free by the Health Ministry.
On the new Health Ministry standard operating procedure that only close contacts showing symptoms would be screened for infection, Masidi said the Sabah Health Department said screening will only be done on close contacts based on the pattern of infection and cases evaluation from clusters identified in Sabah.
Masidi said according to the Health Ministry, the probable cause for the continuous uptrend of new cases in Sabah was due to the failure to adhere to the health SOPs by the public at the end of 2020.
Masidi also said the continuous increase in new cases could also be caused by the mass screening of factory workers in Sabah’s east coast organised by the Social Security Organisation.
Meanwhile, the number of new Covid-19 infections slightly dropped today from 526 yesterday to 406 today, bringing the total cases of Covid-19 cases in Sabah to 40,549 since the outbreak erupted in March last year.
The state today recorded three deaths and two new clusters, namely Balibata involving three new cases in Beaufort and Sandakan, and KKIP South, involving seven new cases. – The Vibes, January 20, 2021
