KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 30): In view of Sabah's escalating number of new Covid-19 infections, the Ministry of Health (MOH) is mobilising relief teams to the red zones in the state.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the ministry has mobilised relief teams to Tawau, Lahad Datu, Semporna and Kunak in dealing with the rapid spread of Covid-19 there.
The ministry has mobilised relief teams in stages from Sarawak, Labuan and Peninsular Malaysia since Sept 23.
According to data from the MOH's Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre, for the two-week period from Sept 17 until today, Semporna topped the list in Sabah with the most number of active cases at 362, followed by Tawau with 342, Lahad Datu (92) and Kunak (53). All of these health districts have been categorised as red zones — districts with at least 41 active cases.
There were 89 new confirmed Covid-19 cases as of noon today compared with 101 yesterday.
Among the 89 confirmed cases, 86 were locally transmitted cases, while three were imported, noted Noor Hisham.
For the 86 locally transmitted cases, 25 of them had travelled to Sabah. This brought the total number of infections to 88 among those who had travelled to Sabah recently.
The local transmissions involved 84 Malaysians and the remaining two were foreigners.
The Covid-19 death toll, however, went up to 136 after two new fatalities were reported today.
Active cases climbed for eight consecutive days — with 1,121 active cases today, which is 456 cases more from 665 about a week ago on Sept 22.