“In a situation where the virus has spread widely in the community and in large areas, lockdowns are no longer effective in curbing the spread.

“What is required is to ramp up vaccinations among the public,” he said, adding that Sabah had received large supplies of vaccines in the third week of July.

He said the state health department had successfully administered 374,214 doses from July 21 to July 31.

“We hope we can continue vaccinations at an average rate of 50,000 doses a day this month,” he said today.

Masidi said the number of new cases in Sabah was increasing, with 1,166 recorded today.

The largest number of cases had come from close contact screenings, making up 57.8% of the total number of cases, or 674.

He added that today, all districts recorded new Covid-19 cases. Kota Kinabalu recorded the highest number of cases with 234.

“Other districts with high number of cases are Penampang with 123, followed by Tawau (106), Beaufort (84), Tuaran (83), Papar (73), Kunak (68), Sandakan (61), Keningau (59), Tenom (41), Ranau (40) and Telupid (38).

“The high number of close contact infections is also an indicator that many people have already been exposed to Covid-19 infection.

“Aside from close contact screenings, symptomatic screenings recorded 171 or 14.7% of the total number of cases while 147 or 12.6% are from existing clusters,” he said.

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