KOTA KINABALU, Sept 23 — Three candidates — two from Umno and one from Parti Warisan Sabah — have been put under quarantine after coming into contact with Umno supreme council member Mohd Razlan Rafii, who tested positive for the virus.  

Umno’s Lumadan candidate Datuk Kamarlin Ombi confirmed he is under quarantine while Malaysiakini reported Sindumin candidates Sani Miasin (Umno) and Datuk Dr Yusof Yacob (Warisan) are also under quarantine.

Kamarlin told Malaysiakini that Razlan had been assigned to campaign in Sindumin and had come in contact with both the Umno and Warisan candidates.

He said that he came into contact with Razlan on nomination day and even had a meal with him.

He also met with Sani and Yusof who are candidates of the adjacent constituency in the Sipitang district.

Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan also contracted Covid-19 after campaigning in Sipitang.

Those who come into close contact with a Covid-19 patient are required to undergo a 14-day quarantine.

However, Kamarlin told the portal that he was confident that his campaign would continue as the people on the ground know him.

"I have been the assemblyman for two terms. The people already know me.

"So we have been ready from the beginning... I have done my best in Lumadan,” he was quoted saying.

Sabah has seen a spike in Covid-19 cases in the last month with 625 active cases as of yesterday, most in the east coast. Tawau  has a  reported 435 cases, Lahad Datu has 91 and Semporna, the latest cluster, has 47 cases.