KOTA KINABALU, Jan 13 ― Enforcement authorities are out to ensure compliance among the public under the latest movement control order (MCO) in response to a spike in new cases.
State Covid-19 spokesman Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said the spike in cases lately is in direct correlation to the reduction in compliance that began during the festive year-end season.
“Before, our compliance rate was between 96 and 97 per cent on average. But lately, it has dropped to around 93 to 94 per cent. Based on that, we can conclude that cases spike when the compliance rate goes down,” he said.
He said this was also evident from districts where the compliance rate has dropped but have continued to discover new cases.
Districts like Kota Kinabalu, Lahad Datu, Penampang, Sandakan and Tawau, which achieved a 93 per cent compliance rate, are topping the list of new daily cases in Sabah with 60 cases, 51 cases, 50 cases, 44 cases and 27 cases respectively today while all other districts have a 94 per cent compliance rate.
“Looking at the statistics and the number of new cases in each district, there is a direct correlation,” he said.
Today, Sabah recorded a total of 450 new cases, and it reflected the above trends since the year-end holidays two to three weeks ago.
“Towards the end of last year, our numbers went down to manageable levels but after the festive holidays, they went up,” he said, adding that people became less compliant during that time and a majority of the cases were from close contact infections.
He reported that 12 roadblocks checked 6,993 vehicles today and ordered drivers of four vehicles to turn back, while 17 compounds were issued for breaching Covid-19 related SOPs.
He also said that the state Cabinet discussed aid for the B40 group today and Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor will be announcing state assistance to target groups soon.
On a question on small and medium businesses that were facing trouble covering operational costs during the MCO, Masidi said the state might consider some kind of assistance if the affected business community came forward with suggestions via their respective associations.
