KOTA KINABALU, Nov 20 — The Sabah government hopes to raise the laboratory capacity in the state to process 4,000 Covid-19 samples daily next year, said State Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun.
He said so far the laboratory capacity in Sabah is only able process 2,700 Covid-19 test samples in a day.
“On that reason, we hope to ramp up laboratory capacity for test samples to 4,000 per day,” he said in the daily Sabah Covid-19 media conference today.
Masidi said there are 4,496 Covid-19 samples in Sabah which have yet to be processed as at Nov 19.
From the total, 64 per cent would be managed in Sabah while the remaining samples would be handled in the peninsula at the National Public Health Laboratory in Sungai Buloh, the Institute for Medical Research (IMR), Kuala Lumpur and other private lab, he said.
Meanwhile, Masidi said 3,030 babies and children under 12 years old were reported to be infected with Covid-19 in the state as at Nov 19.
“From the number, 1,241 are children under five years old and 191 infants below one year old,” he said.
On the development of Covid-19 in Sabah, Masidi said 512 new positive cases were recorded today, bringing the cumulative total in the state to 25,441 cases.
He said 300 Covid-19 patients have recovered and were discharged from hospitals, while 2,268 patients are being treated at hospitals and Low Risk Covid-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centres (PKRC) throughout the state.
Currently, 35.01 per cent of the 6,478 beds for Covid-19 cases in hospitals and PKRC in Sabah are occupied, he said. — Bernama
