SABAH REGISTERS FOUR NEW COVID-19 CLUSTERS, ONE INVOLVES SCHOOL STUDENTS

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15 April 2021

By Wartawan Nabalu News

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah today registered four new Covid-19 clusters with a cumulative total of 53 positive cases.

Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said these clusters are the Biah Skim cluster in Keningau, the Melangkap Tomis cluster in Kota Belud, as well as the Lorong Megah Jaya and the Jalan Labuk 3 clusters in Sandakan.

“The Biah Skim cluster in Keningau involves Mukim Ansip which has a cumulative total of 10 cases with nine close contacts tested positive today.

“The index case of this cluster tested positive through a labour ward pre-admittance screening in one of the district’s medical centres on April 13,” he said in a statement today.

The index case was believed to have contracted the virus from relative’s ceremony for the deceased (kenduri arwah) on March 29 which also saw attendance of family members and neighbours in Kg Biah Skim.

“The Melangkap Tomis cluster which was detected in April 7 involves the Tuaran and Kota Belud districts. The cluster recorded one new case today, bringing the cumulative total to 10 cases.

“The index tested positive through symptomatic screening in a medical centre in Tuaran and close contacts screening found nine more individuals to have tested positive,” he said, adding that six of them are from Kota Belud and three from Tuaran.

According to Masidi, the index case was believed to have contracted the virus after attending an engagement ceremony in Kg Melangkap Tomis on March 30. The event saw 178 attendees.

Meanwhile, he said the Lorong Megah Jaya cluster in Sandakan involves a worker house in Bandar Megah Jaya.

“The cluster was detected on April 12 when a worker of a health centre exhibited symptoms and tested positive for the virus.

“Following the case, 37 close contacts have been screened with 17 tests samples came back positive, bringing the cumulative total of the cluster to 18 cases.

“Based on observation, the transmission occurred among the index case’s colleagues who live in the same house,” he revealed.

The Jalan Labuk 3 cluster in Sandakan, on the other hand, involves a full boarding school where the index case is a student who tested positive on April 7 after exhibiting symptoms.

“The cluster today recorded seven new cases, bringing the cumulative total to 15. Close contact screening in the school found 10 more students tested positive for the virus, while another four are household members.

“Screening and investigation of cause of infection are still being actively conducted.”