Over 30 SPM, STPM students in Sabah test postive for Covid-19 - Masidi

 

A total of 36 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) and Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) students in Sabah have been confirmed to be infected with Covid-19 so far, said Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister Masidi Manjun.

Masidi, who is also the state Covid-19 spokesperson, said the cases were identified through screening tests done before students were allowed back to their dormitories to begin their lessons in preparation for their public examinations.

“As of Jan 20, 36 SPM and STPM students are confirmed to be infected with Covid-19 through screenings as they returned to their dormitories beginning Jan 16,” he said during the daily Sabah Covid-19 media conference in Kota Kinabalu yesterday.

Masidi said the Sabah State Disaster Management Committee has provided internet service at every low-risk Covid-19 quarantine and treatment centre to enable students undergoing treatment and quarantine to follow their lessons online.

He also said it was too early to evaluate the effectiveness of the movement control order (MCO) enforcement in Sabah, which entered its eighth day yesterday, in the effort to flatten the curve of Covid-19 infections in the state.

The true picture of whether the MCO enforcement was effective would only be known after at least 10 days of enforcement.

According to Masidi, infection cases in Sabah currently are due to weak compliance of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) among citizens before the MCO was enforced and this can be seen in the drop in SOP compliance rate in each district.

However, he did not deny the possibility that the rise in cases the past few days were due to large-scale screening tests conducted by the Social Security Organisation (Socso) on factory workers, especially in the east coast of Sabah.

Although many economic sectors are allowed to operate during the current MCO, compared to last year, Masidi believes that the infections would be reduced if all workers complied with the SOPs at their workplace.

On Covid-19 updates in Sabah yesterday, Masidi said 406 new cases were recorded, bringing the cumulative total of cases in the state to 45,088, with three deaths, two in Sandakan and one in Kota Kinabalu.

In addition, 416 Covid-19 patients have recovered and were discharged yesterday, bringing the cumulative total of recoveries to 40,549 patients, he said.

- Bernama