KOTA KINABALU, Dec 15 — A staff member of the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) Sandakan branch has been identified as the trigger for the Jalan Labuk Batu 7 Cluster which was detected today, and the cluster has recorded 20 cases including the index case so far.

Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said the cluster’s index case was a male IRB employee who suffered from fever, cough and flu before being tested positive on December 9.

"Further investigation found 19 more positive cases comprising family members and colleagues of the index case, bringing the cumulative cases in this cluster to 20 including three new cases reported today,” he said in a statement here tonight.

Masidi, who is also the spokesman on Covid-19 in Sabah, said the IRB Sabah branch premises had been temporarily closed for disinfection and all patients were isolated and given appropriate treatment.

He added that based on the Sabah Health Department report, the number of new positive Covid-19 cases today was 224, making a cumulative total of 237,759 cases. — Bernama