'Success of Sabah's battle against Covid-19 depends on its people'

 By Olivia Miwil - November 13, 2020 @ 9:26pm

A medical officer takes swab test of a child in Kampung Lupak Meluas Darat. - BERNAMA pic

KOTA KINABALU: How well Sabah fares in terms of curbing the Covid-19 pandemic will depend largely on its own people, said Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun.

Masidi, who is the state government's spokesperson on Covid-19-related matters, said the semi-relaxation of conditions in the state, which is currently under the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) from Nov 10, should also be accompanied by "responsible behaviour from its people."

Beginning Oct 10, the state government has allowed more activities such as retail, dining in, recreational activities which do not require physical contact, as well as religious activities, to be conducted.

Speaking at a press conference today, he said the state government has made several relaxations on conditions following demands from the public, especially among the business community.

"With those relaxations, the public should fulfil their responsibility by abiding with the standard operating procedures to prevent the spread of infection.

"It is us who will ultimately determine (the success of reducing the number of cases)" he said.

Masidi was responding to a question on whether the relaxed conditions would hamper efforts by health authorities to reduce the number of new cases in Sabah.

Sabah's infectivity rate, or R naught (R0), slightly increased to 1.03 on Nov 9 from 1.0 about a week ago.

The state today recorded 556 new cases, 199 of which were from close contacts screenings in Tawau, Kota Kinabalu, Tuaran and Sandakan, with the rest coming from clusters.

Sandakan has the highest number of cases at 223, of which 87 are from close contacts. The Bonggaya cluster accounted for 33 cases; Karamunting cluster (31), Jambatan 2 cluster (18), Mesra cluster (17), Samudera cluster (16), Prison cluster (3), Tinusa cluster (2), community screening (1), symptomatic screening (6), and back to work screenings (8).

Kota Kinabalu has 104 cases, Tawau 59, Semporna 43, Tuaran 38, Kudat 23, Lahad Datu 20, Penampang 16, Keningau 12, Putatan 7, Papar 7, Kota Belud 3, and Kota Marudu, Tambunan and Tongod (1).

Meanwhile, Masidi, who is also the state Local Government and Housing Minister, said that from Nov 16 until Dec 12, there will be changes at the Sabah Religious Affairs Department on marriage and divorce matters as it will only operate on half days on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

"The Sabah government has also allowed childcare centres registered under the Sabah Welfare Department to reopen provided they follow the SOPs set by the state Disaster Management Committee."