KOTA KINABALU, Sept 12 — Sabah recorded a new record high of 84 Covid-19 fatalities today.

Eighteen deaths were reported in Kota Kinabalu, followed by 14 in Sandakan, 10 in Kota Belud, nine in Penampang and seven in Tawau.

Lahad Datu, Kota Marudu and Pitas each registered four deaths, while three fatalities were recorded in Tuaran, two each in Keningau, Putatan, Papar and Tenom, and one each in Semporna, Kunak and Nabawan.

Sabah’s new Covid-19 cases dipped below the 2,000 mark to 1,717 on Sunday.

Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun said the new cases had dropped by 446 from 2,163 on Saturday.

Although there were districts that reported rise in infections, he said several districts have recorded significant decrease in positive cases.

He said cases in Kota Kinabalu dropped by 257 to 192, Papar decreased by 19 to 103, Kota Marudu went down 55 to 100 and Lahad Datu declined by 42 to 99.

Meanwhile, Putatan registered a decrease of 39 to 64, Kudat dropped by 32 to 26 and Keningau down 14 to 63.

On the other hand, Masidi, who is Sabah’s Covid-19 spokesperson, said Sandakan recorded the highest number of cases in Sabah on Sunday at 255, which was an increase of 10 cases from Saturday.

Tuaran’s cases have increased by 36 to 148, 47 cases of which were contributed by Bawah Bayu Cluster.

New infections in Pitas went up by 11 to 52, Kinabatangan increased by 28 to 46 and  Tambunan rose by six to 22.

Of the 1,717 daily cases, he said 977 or 56.9 per cent were detected from close contact screenings, 464 or 27 per cent from symptomatic screenings, 67 from clusters, two from targeted screenings and 207 from other screenings. Twenty-five of the cases involved detainees.

He added that 45.5 per cent of the cases in Tawau were reported from symptomatic screenings, followed by 44.1 per cent in Penampang, 29.7 per cent in Kota Kinabalu and 29.4 per cent in Sandakan.

Masidi added that 32.4 per cent (557) of the patients fell under Category 1, 59.8 per cent (1,026) under Category 2, nine under Category 3, 11 under Category 4 and seven under Category 5, whereas 107 cases were still under investigation.

Out of the 1,717 cases on Sunday, 658 (38.3 per cent) were registered between two and three days, 49 cases (2.9 per cent) between four and five days and 67 cases (3.9 per cent) were backlogs more than five days after the results of screening were known.

As of September 11, 51.8 per cent of the adult population in Sabah have completed their vaccination, and 67.4 per cent have received one dose of vaccine.

"According to CITF (Covid-19 Immunization Task Force) statistics, 100 per cent of the adult population in Beaufort and Putatan have received at least one dose of vaccination, followed by 94 per cent in Kuala Penyu, 88 per cent in Kota Kinabalu and 82 per cent in Sipitang.” — Borneo Post