KOTA KINABALU, April 3 — The federal government’s Reopening Safely standard operating procedures (SOP) that took effect on April 1 will be implemented in Sabah.
Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun said the state government through the Sabah State Covid-19 Disaster Management Committee had decided that the federal government’s Reopening Safely SOP prescribed by the Health director-general pursuant to Regulation 17 of Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures Within Infected Local Areas) (National Recovery Plan) (Transition Phase to Endemic) Regulations 2022 that took effect on April 1 would also be enforced in Sabah.
For specific needs involving local authorities (PBT) in Sabah, he said the guidelines would be released from time to time according to the current situation.
Meanwhile, Masidi, who is Sabah’s Covid-19 spokesperson, said the guideline for entry into Sabah for international travellers via air, land and sea that was enforced since April 1 had been issued in a press statement on March 31.
The SOP activities in mosques and surau that took effect on April 1 have also been released, he said.
On the daily cases, Sabah recorded 167 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, which was a decrease of 67 cases compared to the day before.
He said most districts were showing signs of stabilising with the daily cases fluctuating at a lower and more controlled rate.
“With the exception of several volatile districts such as Kota Kinabalu, Penampang and Tuaran that are unpredictable, the daily cases in many other districts are quite easy to predict as they are at a stable level.”
Masidi said Kota Kinabalu reported the most cases in Sabah with 26 infections, which were 32 cases fewer than the day before.
This is followed by Papar 21 cases (+3), Penampang 17 cases (-1) and Tuaran 14 cases (-2).
He said Kota Kinabalu was among the districts which was difficult to predict the movement and changes in daily cases as the infections could fluctuate drastically.
“This can be due to the reason that Kota Kinabalu is a populated state capital and the main centre of economic activities in Sabah.”
Meanwhile, he said districts located further away from the city with small population were more consistent, whereby the daily cases were far lower with zero new case at times.
In addition, Masidi said sporadic infections have dropped below 50 per cent at 43.71 per cent.
He said the lower percentage signified lower risk of infection and decrease in new cases.
He said high compliance with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) was the main factor contributing to lower daily infection rates.
Masidi hoped that the people of Sabah would continue to demonstrate high discipline even though the country was transitioning towards endemic phase.
“The key that makes Sabah one of the states with the lowest daily caseload recently is high SOPs compliance among the people in the state.”
Of the 167 new cases, 158 were in Category 1 and 2, one in Category 3, four each in Category 4 and 5. — Borneo Post
