This is just 31 cases fewer than yesterday’s numbers.

Sabah local government and housing minister Masidi Manjun said, as in recent days, Kota Kinabalu still had the highest number of new infections with 212 cases, followed by Tawau (139), Tuaran (72) and Telupid (71), among others.

Following the rise in the number of patients in the state capital, he said the health authorities were preparing to turn some wards at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital 1 (QEH1), the city’s general hospital, into Covid-19 wards.

“They want to make sure they are prepared,” he told FMT.

He said extra patients could also be referred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital 2, about 10km away, referring to news reports showing pictures of patients waiting by the roadside for transport.

Masidi said close contacts still represented the highest percentage of infections today at 497 cases, or 48%, from the total cases.

He added that 24.3% or 251 cases came from symptomatic screenings and some 18.5% or 191 cases from existing clusters.

“This is a sign that the virus is prevalent in the community and infections are happening sporadically.

“We don’t know who are the ones spreading or how it is being spread,” he said.

Masidi, who is Sabah’s official Covid-19 spokesman, said 115 cases also included prisoners, consisting of four inmates from the Kepayan prison and 111 detainees at the Tawau immigration detention depot.

Two new clusters were also detected in the interior areas, namely the Gambaron Dua cluster in Telupid and Jalan Corak cluster in Tongod, he added.

“The state government, through the enforcement agencies, will intensify efforts to ensure all SOPs are adhered to while ramping up the vaccination exercise for the people,” he said.

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