Covid-19: 'Mutations inevitable, just keep following SOP'

 By Olivia Miwil, Rafiqah Dahali - December 9, 2021 @ 1:24pm

Sabah Covid-19 spokesperson Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said Omicron or other new variants of the virus would eventually reach the state. - File pic.

KOTA KINABALU: People should keep following the standard operating procedures (SOP) as this is the best defence against new Covid-19 variants.

Sabah Covid-19 spokesperson Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said Omicron or other new variants of the virus would eventually reach the state.

"Omicron, or any other variant, will come in two ways, the first is being 'imported' by people into the state or it mutates like the Delta variant.

"The best thing people can do to stay safe is to avoid going to crowded places," he said, adding that vaccination alone did not prevent infections as between 60 and 70 percent of daily Covid-19 cases were among vaccinated people.

He was answering a question from Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal (Warisan-Senallang) on the new variant during the state assembly sitting.

Meanwhile, Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister, Datuk Abidin Madingkir said 97 per cent or 19,584 out of 20,271 civil servants in Sabah had completed their vaccination as of Nov 23.

He was responding to a question from Datuk Ewon Benedick (Upko-Kadamaian) on the percentage of state civil servants who have not received the vaccine and the state government's policy to overcome the problem.

"The number of state civil servants who have not taken the vaccine due to health and other issues is 687 or the equivalent of three per cent.

"The state government has asked all civil servants to complete the Covid-19 immunisation to create a safe workplace environment and ensure service delivery as well as productivity are at optimum levels."

Abidin said officers who were not eligible to receive the Covid-19 immunisation should obtain confirmation from a medical officer and inform their head of department.

He also said there were some civil servants who did not want to receive the vaccine due to being influenced by anti-vaxxers or citing religious reasons.

"Department heads can consider appropriate methods to manage any officer who did not get or complete their Covid-19 immunisation, apart from valid health reasons.

"These methods include instructing officers to perform periodic Covid-19 tests, work-from-home, counselling sessions, use their leaves and unpaid leaves and finally termination."