Labuan's Omicron-triggered cluster rises to 18 cases, further increase expected
Published on: Friday, January 07, 2022
By: Bernama
Covid-19 tests are underway at Labuan's Pasar Sentral Urban Transformation Centre on Dec 16, 2020. (Photo: Bernama)
LABUAN: The number of new COVID-19 cases from the Omicron-linked cluster of Jalan OKK Awang Besar Saudi has increased from an initial 13 to 18 as of yesterday, said Labuan Health Department director Dr Ismuni Bohari.
He said healthcare personnel are fully prepared for a possible surge in cases but urged the public to adhere to the COVID-10 standard operating procedure (SOP), including avoiding crowds and practising physical distancing.
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“The number of new cases of the newly emerged cluster has increased, and we anticipate a further rise in the next few days.
“The possible increase is not only from the inflow of travellers but most likely from among students, as the school session is resuming next week. In anticipation of a surge, we decided to freeze the annual leave of our staff,” he told Bernama today.
Dr Ismuni said a Sabahan student of the Labuan Matriculation College (LMC), who was scheduled to begin the new semester, tested positive for COVID-19 a few days ago.
“The student has been isolated in a room, and we are monitoring the student’s health condition and the possible spread among students,” he said.
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Dr Ismuni said after successfully battling COVID-19, Labuan was now seeing a fluctuating trend in new cases, recording double digits of new cases on Jan 2, before dropping to two and five cases on Jan 3 and 4 respectively. However, the number rose again to 15 on Jan 5 and 20 cases yesterday.
“Of the 20 cases we reported yesterday (Jan 6), 18 come from two families who returned from Kelantan and Sabah. This shows the COVID-19 SOP is being gradually taken for granted,” he said.
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He said healthcare enforcement personnel had been tasked to enhance monitoring of SOP compliance, especially at food and beverage premises.
“No one will be spared compounds if they are found violating the SOP, as we are not targeting only the business premises operators but also individuals (visitors and customers),” he said.
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