KOTA KINABALU, Aug 2 ― As Covid-19 cases in the state reached another high, Sabah is now aiming to ramp up its vaccination programme from some 30,000 to 50,000 jabs per day in order to achieve herd immunity.
Sabah Covid-19 spokesman Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said that the state recorded 1,166 cases today, an increase of 164 from yesterday, and the highest this year so far.
The state breached the highest number of cases at 1,199 during its post-election surge period in November last year.
“In this situation where the virus has spread deep into the community and is very widespread, we do not think a lockdown will be an effective way to curb its spread anymore.
“What needs to be done is to expedite vaccination among the community,” he said today.
In line with this, Masidi said that the state received larger supplies of vaccines in the third week of July.
“In the 10 days from July 21 to July 31, the State Health Department has given out 374,214 doses of vaccines. We hope to be able to continue vaccination at an average rate of 50,000 doses per day in the month of August,” he said.
The state has repeatedly said it is on target to vaccinate 2.9 million of its population by year end.
Yesterday, the state inoculated some 48,000 people.
Meanwhile, the state has been hitting four-figure cases since Friday, with most of them ― 57.8 per cent ― being detected from close contact screening.
“The high number of close contacts is a sign that many are exposed to the virus,” he said.
