Self-quarantine, returning Sabah students told

By Olivia Miwil - May 3, 2020 @ 10:27am

There are about 7,200 students returning to Sabah and Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) has nearly 6,000 students at its campuses here, in Sandakan and Labuan. - NSTP/YUN MIKAIL

KOTA KINABALU: The onus of not causing a spike in Covid-19 cases in Sabah will be on the students returning from other states.

Sabah Health Department (JKNS) director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi said the health authorities had earlier suggested for students in the state and those returning from outside Sabah to undergo 14-day quarantine and be tested for the virus before they were allowed to return to their homes.

She added that such a motion was made after taking into consideration of massive movement of students who might not know they had the virus.

There are about 7,200 students returning to Sabah and Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) has nearly 6,000 students at its campuses here, in Sandakan and Labuan.

"The department's responsibility is to prevent the spread of Covid-19 to the high risk groups. Now, the onus is on all students to put themselves under home quarantine to protect their loved ones," Dr Christina said in a statement, referring to high risk groups including elderly, young children, pregnant women, immunocompromised patients and those with underlying diseases.

The u-turn decision to allow home quarantine was made following a final say by the Sabah government and public criticism over the department's preventive measures.

Dr Christina added although there had been no new cases for three consecutive days with 59 active cases as of yesterday, investigations had shown that Covid-19 infection was happening among the community.

"Many who have been infected are not showing symptoms and it can cause infection among the community without anyone knowing it.

"The public should also remember that Covid-19 infection is caused by a new virus and should not be regarded to be the same as dengue."

Meanwhile, UMS said its students would be allowed to return home starting May 5 in stages.

"We urge all students to be patient and be on alert for the latest development of their movement arrangement via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Whatsapp," it said in a statement.