Sabah Health Department beefs up Covid-19 screening at borders

By Olivia Miwil - May 25, 2020 @ 9:34am

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Health Department (JKNS) is beefing up efforts to screen all people entering the state.

JKNS director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi said since the fourth Movement Control Order (MCO) on April 29, up to 5,084 individuals had entered the state via Sindumin in Sipitang, situated at the Sabah-Sarawak border.

"On average, about 203 people are inspected at the main entry point in Sipitang.

"Yesterday, four health personnel from the Sipitang Health Office screened 107 people at the Sindumin-Merapok entry point from 6am to 6pm," she said in a statement.

Meanwhile, health authorities have screened more than 800 passengers from 23 flights at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport, Tawau and Sandakan airports over the past two days.

As of yesterday, Sabah recorded 343 Covid-19 cases, with additional infections registered in Ranau and Lahad Datu.

"The latest from Ranau is categorised as an import case, as it was detected from a sample taken at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport.

"It involves a student who took a chartered flight from Sarawak, and who was quarantined in Ranau," she said, adding that the patient was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital here on May 23 for further treatment.

The Lahad Datu patient, meanwhile, who was detected through active contact tracing,

has been placed at the district hospital.

Sabah is still treating 33 cases at hospitals, including four who re-tested positive after being discharged.

To date, 8,429 people are undergoing home-quarantine, while 2,802 are still at 55 quarantine centres throughout the state.