Sabah moves to Phase Three on Monday
Published on: Saturday, October 16, 2021
By: Anthea Peter
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah will move to Phase Three of the National Recovery Plan (NRP) on Oct 18 (Monday).Sabah’s Covid-19 spokesperson Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said this follows the decision made by the National Security Council Friday as Sabah has qualified for it.
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Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob earlier announced that Sabah, Kedah, Kelantan, Perak and Penang will move to Phase Three, adding that with the transition, all Malaysian states have moved to Phase Three of the NRP.
Meanwhile, day-care and childcare centres in Sabah are allowed to operate an additional two hours from 6am to 8pm with immediate effect, as part of updated standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Masidi said they are allowed to open only at 50 per cent capacity and only for children of parents who are either both frontliners or essential workers.
“Daycare operators and child carers must be fully vaccinated,” he said in a statement, Friday.
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He added that child carers taking care of babies must wear personal protective equipment (PPE) for as long as the babies are in their care, while rooms and equipment in the day-care must always be cleaned and sanitised.
“Sharing of cutlery, cleaning tools, milk-feeding equipment, mattresses, blankets, pillows as well as group activities are not allowed,” said Masidi.
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As for parents picking up their children from the day-care, the pick-up must be scheduled by the child carers and done in stages while complying with SOPs.
Other mandatory SOPs are required, including wearing a face mask, maintaining one-metre physical distancing, body temperature checks and logging details on MySejahtera/SabahTrace or in the daily log book, among others.
Operating hours for non-Muslim houses of worship have also been extended from 6am to 10pm with immediate effect, at 50 per cent capacity of the building’s space and physical distancing of one meter.
Masidi said religious activities, such as weddings, blessings and baptisms are allowed at no more than two hours at a time.
“Only management committee members and worshippers that are fully vaccinated are allowed into the house of worship,” he said, adding that those unvaccinated will be denied entry.
He said children under 12 are only allowed to be present with fully vaccinated parents.
Sabah recorded 720 cases on Friday and five deaths – two each in Sandakan and Tuaran and one in Kudat.
Masidi said Kota Kinabalu topped the list with 68 cases, followed by Kudat (62), Keningau (58), Kinabatangan (57), Kota Belud (50), Tenom (50), Kota Marudu (44), Tuaran (42), Putatan (34) and Ranau (31).
“Districts that have recorded a significant increase include Kinabatangan (+40), Keningau (+23), Tenom (+13) and Beaufort (+10).
“While it is difficult to predict the trend of cases in Sabah districts in the near future, the cumulative trend of transmissions in the span of 14 days indicate a downward trend,” he said.
He added that symptomatic cases account for 35.14 per cent of the caseload with 253 cases.
“This indicates that SOP compliance among residents is not satisfactory,” he said, adding that close contacts made up 50.97 per cent of the caseload.
Of the caseload, he said 65.28 per cent were cases registered from the day earlier.
He added that 96.25 per cent of cases are in category one and two, while one patient is in category three, four are in category four and two in category five. 20 cases are still being evaluated.
Some 872 Covid-19 patients have been discharged from the hospital while 2,302 patients are currently receiving treatment at hospitals, low risk quarantine and treatment centres (PKRCs), prisons/temporary detention centres and private facilities.
Masidi said 117 patients are under critical care, with 105 in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)/repurposed critical care as well as 12 in the open ward (high dependency ward (HDW)/acute cubicle), with 39 needing ventilator support.
On Sabah’s immunisation programme, Masidi said 35,412 individuals were vaccinated on Oct 14, of which 14,444 were adults and 20,968 were teenagers.
“As of Oct 14, some 2,397,471individuals have completed their first dose, of which 75.7 per cent were adults. Some 2,146,312 individuals have completed both doses of the vaccine, of which 1,972,565 were adults,” he said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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