KOTA KINABALU, May 14 — The detection of Covid-19 cases among students returning here has prompted the Sabah government to implement a mandatory 14-day quarantine at gazetted centres for all returnees.

According to Sabah Health Department director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi, the move was also due to the failure of some students to fully observe their home quarantine periods.

"Following the spike in the number of cases from returning Sabahans and the non-compliance from those required to undergo home quarantine, we are amending the SOP to curb the spreading of the virus.

"All are now required to be tested either at the entry point or at the nearest government facility and have to undergo mandatory quarantine at the designated centres,” she said.

Returnees will also only be allowed to observe the quarantine at home after authorities have assessed their state of health, possible infection risks, and their home facilities.

Dr Rundi warned on Tuesday that returning students ordered to observe a medical quarantine at their homes must strictly abide by the Health Department’s order.

She said students who flouted the home quarantine order could be charged under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988.

Sabah’s Covid-19 tally rose to 330 following the detection of the disease among two students here yesterday from the same local university.

"This means a new cluster with the cumulative number of three cases from the same source,” said Dr Rundi in a statement last night.

She said the cases were detected when they screened all the students before allowing them to return to their homes.

On Monday, 10 positive cases were detected in Sabah, including students returning from Peninsular Malaysia.

According to Dr Rundi, out of the 7,000 students in Sabah allowed to return home, a total of 1,408 students had so far returned to their own districts in the State.

Another 1,612 have gone back to Labuan, Sarawak and the peninsula.