Don’t let guard down, says Sabah minister amid drop in cases

 

Sabah’s public health measures involving interstate and inter-district travel have won praise from the health director-general. (Bernama pic)

KOTA KINABALU: A state minister has urged Sabahans not to let their guard down in the fight against Covid-19 despite infections showing further signs of improving, with only 50 cases detected on Monday.

Sabah’s public health measures, which have helped drive down infections and turn red zones into more green zones, have also won praise from health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

But Masidi Manjun, the state’s official Covid-19 spokesman, is not letting the accolades go to his head, saying this is not the time to get complacent.

“It will continue to be a yo-yo situation but the next one or two weeks will be crucial,” he told FMT.

“If self-discipline is maintained and there is full compliance with all SOPs, we expect some form of sustained stability in the numbers.

Masidi Manjun.

“Don’t get complacent by letting our guard down during the Raya celebrations as we are not out of the woods yet. Everyone must play their part so we can go back to as near a normal life as soon as possible.”

Masidi said with the exception of Tawau and Kota Kinabalu, which registered 19 and 11 cases respectively, 18 other districts detected zero infections, with the remaining seven districts only recording single-digit cases.

Sabah now has a cumulative 59,003 cases, with 567 patients still receiving treatment at hospitals or low-risk treatment centres.

Noor Hisham had, at a press conference last week, praised Sabah’s public health measures involving interstate and inter-district travel, which he said managed to reduce the number of red zones in the state.

He said when the state allowed inter-district travel last Dec 7, it caused a surge of infections that led to no districts being categorised as green zones.

“Most of them were red zones but thanks to the public health measures and strong support from the state government, we managed to increase the number of green zones (in Sabah),” he said.

Noor Hisham also said that other states should emulate the steps taken by Sabah. - FMT