Supermarket cashier sparks new Covid cluster
Published on: Wednesday, July 28, 2021
By: Anthea Peter
.jpg "Supermarket cashier sparks new Covid cluster")
Kota Kinabalu: A new cluster has sparked within a supermarket in Jalan Penampang, Pekan Koidupan, named as the Jalan Penampang Cluster that stemmed from a 25-year-old female cashier.Sabah Covid-19 Spokesperson Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun (pic) said she was detected positive during a symptomatic screening on July 26.
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“Contact screenings found another 28 individuals positive among her colleagues and family members.
“There are 29 cumulative cases in this workplace cluster to date. Contact tracing and further investigations are still ongoing,” he said in a statement, Tuesday.
Another three new clusters were identified on Tuesday, namely the Kudat Jetty Cluster in Kudat, Inderasabah Cluster in Tawau and Industri Kolombong Cluster in Kota Kinabalu.
The Kudat Jetty Cluster stemmed from a 51-year-old non-Malaysian female who is an entrepreneur at the jetty which is a fish landing site among fishermen.
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She was tested positive at the Kudat Hospital on July 15 and there are 44 cumulative cases in this cluster to date.
“Following the increase in cases at the Kudat Jetty, the Kudat Area Health Office conducted targeted screenings on all individuals involved in fish businesses in Kudat from July 21 to 26, and had taken 237 test samples,” Masidi said.
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The Inderasabah Cluster is a community cluster stemming from a 30-year-old male oil palm planter who was tested positive on July 24. He had experienced symptoms since July 14.
“He works by himself and lives in Kg Darat, Inderasabah with 13 family members.
“Other than close contact screenings, casual contact screenings were also conducted on three contacts in the Taman Sri Apas People’s Housing Project at Block C, of which two were tested positive.
“To date, 17 contacts have been screened where 14 were found positive. The source of infection is still being investigated,” said Masidi.
The Industri Kolombong Cluster involves transmission within a cooking oil warehouse in Kolombong which stemmed from a 26-year-old male assistant driver.
“He was tested positive at the Penampang Health Clinic on July 19. There are 23 cases in this cluster to date, with an epidemiologic link to other districts.
“Eight cases were recorded in Kota Kinabalu while 12 were recorded in Penampang and three in Tuaran,” said Masidi.
Sabah recorded 741 cases while three deaths were recorded in Penampang, Putatan and Kudat.
Masidi said close contacts accounted for 51.15 per cent of the caseload with 379 cases, followed by 141 cases from new and existing clusters, 129 cases from symptomatic screenings and 53 cases from targeted screenings.
“Some 74 per cent of the caseload are in category one (257 cases) and category two (291 cases),” said Masidi, adding that they do not need hospital treatment.
Kota Kinabalu topped the list with 149 cases, of which 70 are close contacts, followed by Tawau with 87 cases which were mostly contributed by 52 close contacts.
Some 652 Covid-19 patients have been discharged from the hospital while 3,554 patients are currently receiving treatment at hospitals and low risk quarantine and treatment centres (PKRC).
Meanwhile, 27 localities would be placed under Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) from July 29 to Aug 11, namely Ladang Tinabau Housing in Kinabatangan, three Tawau localities (Kg Block 31, Kg Tg Batu Darat and Kg Darat Inderasabah).
Also included are four Beaufort localities (Kg Lumadan, Kg Kebulu Petani, Kg Beaufort Selatan and Taman Arjuna) and eight Penampang localities (Country Height Phase 1, Cyber City Phase 1, Kg Nabangkung, Kg Ramayah, Taman Vista Kiranau, Kg Sarapung Kolopis, Vista Minitod and Kampung Tuunon).
11 Kota Kinabalu localities are also included, namely Bandar Sierra, Kg Unggun, Kg Kalasanan, Lorong Cina 1, 2 & 3, Kg Tebobon, Plaza Kingfisher, Polytechnic Commercial Centre, Kg Pulau Penampang, Bandaran Segama and Taman Bukit Setia.
EMCOs in two localities will be lifted on 28, namely Lintas Sibuga People’s Housing Project (PPR) in Sandakan as well as Kg Telaga and Kg Pituru in Pitas.
On Sabah’s National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, under phase one, 387 individuals have received their first dose, bringing the tally to 66,637 while one person received their second dose, bringing the tally to 58,575.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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