‘Covid-19 cases spread from east to west Sabah due to election’

 

Covid-19 cases may have spread from the east coast of Sabah to the west coast of the state due to the recent state election, said Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister Masidi Manjun.

“Our observation is that cases in the west coast that may have come from the east coast may have been a result of the movement of people returning from the east to the west to vote during the election,” he told a press conference in Kota Kinabalu today.

However, he said these are preliminary findings and that the Health Ministry is still investigating the matter.

He said this when asked how the Benteng LD cluster had spread to the west coast in the state, even though travel restrictions have been imposed on Lahad Datu, Tawau, Kunak, and Semporna on Sept 28, before inter-district travel was banned for other districts in the state.

The Benteng LD cluster was first detected at the Lahad Datu police district headquarters lock-up and Tawau Prison. It was first announced on Sept 1 and was one of the earliest clusters detected in the current wave of Covid-19 cases.

While few cases have been directly linked to the cluster in recent days, it has grown to 1,085 cases to become the second-largest active cluster in Malaysia. Cases had been reported in Lahad Datu, Tawau, Sandakan, Kinabatangan, and Tuaran.

For the record, polling day for the Sabah state election fell on Sept 26, just two days before travel restrictions were imposed on the four east coast districts.

[More to follow] - Mkini