KOTA KINABALU – Sabah recorded a noticeably higher rate of Covid-19 infections among unvaccinated children aged 5 to 11 yesterday, with about 13% of the total new Covid-19 cases in the state being from the underaged segment.
Sabah Covid-19 spokesman Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said that 189 children under the age of 5 and 329 children from 5 to 11 years, making up a total of 518 cases, were recorded yesterday.
This constitutes 13.3% out of the 3,891 cases detected yesterday in the state.
“Cases with children infected by the virus are quite high. It is highly recommended that parents and school managements take necessary precautions to reduce the risk of infection among children, more so as they have not been vaccinated,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Meanwhile, the state recorded five Covid-19 related deaths today in Tuaran (two cases), Tawau (two), and Telupid (one). All districts in Sabah are now categorised as red zones, each with over 40 active cases, except for Kalabakan which is now orange with 21 to 40 active cases.
Kota Kinabalu recorded the most new infections yesterday with 914 cases, followed by Sandakan (478), Tuaran (414), Penampang (389), Papar (256), Tawau (245), Lahad Datu (184), Beaufort (133), Ranau (119), and Kota Belud (100).
Masidi said that sporadic cases with symptomatic screening remain the main factor of the state’s high number of Covid-19 cases, with 58.52% (2,277 cases) of yesterday’s cases detected from symptomatic screening caused by sporadic infection.
“We can conclude that the high percentage of sporadic cases is the cause of the rapid infectivity rate in certain areas, and will be the determining factor for the new number of cases in the near future,” he said.
He added that despite there being a slight decrease in new cases yesterday, there is a high possibility that this will not last considering the high percentage of sporadic cases.
Out of 4,108 beds for Covid-19 patients, 67.58% were occupied as of yesterday. – The Vibes, February 14, 2022
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