Kota Marudu loses green zone status with detection of first Covid-19 case

Sabah Health Department Director Dr Christina Rundi.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah's Kota Marudu district, a green zone since the March 18 movement control order (MCO) came into force, has detected its first Covid-19 case, says Sabah Health Department director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi on Saturday (May 23).

She said the patient, from the northern district, was referred to the Likas Women and Children Hospital here after seeking treatment for a medical condition at the Kota Marudu hospital.

The patient was found positive upon testing and follow-up measures are now being taken to investigate the source of the infection.

The Kota Marudu patient and a passenger returning on a commercial flight from Kuala Lumpur were among the 340 cases recorded in Sabah as of Friday (May 23).

Five deaths have been reported so far and 31 people are still being treated in hospitals in the state.

Dr Rundi said that the second case involved a quarantined passenger returning to Tawau from Kuala Lumpur. The patient was admitted to the Tawau district hospital after tests found him positive with Covid-19 on May 21.

The authorities are probing the source of infection for the patient.

Meanwhile, Dr Rundi said they were concerned over public apathy in adopting standard operating procedures, including social distancing, as they had received many reports of people crowding in public spaces such as shopping malls, markets and restaurants.

"This is worrying," she said, warning that the war against Covid-19 was not yet over, and as such everyone was duty-bound to practise social distancing, maintain high levels of hygiene and wear facemasks to break the virus chain.

So far, two restaurants and two sundry shops have been ordered to close for not observing social distancing rules.

She also said they had screened a total of 1,619 people who arrived at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport on Thursday, and this included 904 higher learning institute students and 715 passengers from 15 commercial flights.

Currently, 10,809 people are undergoing Home Quarantine and 3,357 people are in 55 Quarantine Centres state-wide. - Star