Drop in cases alone doesn’t mean end of MCO, says Masidi

 

Sabah’s Covid-19 spokesman Masidi Manjun said only 97 new cases were reported today. (Bernama pic)

KOTA KINABALU: State Covid-19 spokesman Masidi Manjun said the decline in the number of daily Covid-19 cases in Sabah was not a sign that the movement control order restrictions would be called off earlier than planned.

Only 97 new Covid-19 cases were reported in Sabah today, the first time in five months that two-digit figures were recorded. One death was also recorded.

Masidi said many aspects must be taken into account including the infectivity rate of the outbreak before any decision is made by the National Security Council.

“If I am not mistaken the R-naught (rate of infection) of Covid-19 in Sabah is currently at 0.8 and although we see a stabilisation trend (in Covid-19 cases), it is not an indication of whether the MCO will be terminated or continued,” he said.

A chart showing the declining rate of infections so far this year, posted by health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

However, if Sabahans continued to comply with the rules, there was a good chance of coming out of MCO, he said.

Masidi said the state government hopes to vaccinate three million Sabahans by February next year under the national vaccination programme which will begin on Feb 26.

Masidi said a total of 69,088 of the 115,157 foreign workers in Sabah had undergone Covid-19 screening tests so far. A total of 255 tested positive for the coronavirus.

He said 2,621 of the 8,369 employers in Sabah had fulfilled their responsibility of carrying out screening tests for their foreign workers.

However, Masidi said the ministry of health would continue to conduct risk assessments as to whether the MCO, enforced in Sabah until Feb 18, would be ended or extended.

Masidi, who is also the state finance minister, said Sabah is targeting at least three million people in the state to receive the Covid-19 vaccine by February 2022. - FMT