KOTA KINABALU: A 60-year-old man is believed to have contracted Covid-19 after celebrating his birthday with a party at his home in Balung, Tawau.
The man and his family members had gathered at his home on June 12 to celebrate the occasion.
However, he soon developed symptoms. Three days after developing symptoms, he went for a Covid-19 test at the Apas Balung health clinic and subsequently tested positive for the virus.
Sabah Covid-19 spokesperson Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said the man is now the index case of the Serudung Baru cluster.
"Close contact screening on June 20 turned up nine more party guests who also tested positive," he said in a statement today.
He said the authorities have also detected another cluster, named the Samedra cluster, among oil rig staff at the KIKEH FPSO platform.
The cluster has so far produced 25 Covid-19 cases.
Sabah today recorded 166 Covid-19 cases with two deaths in Tawau.
Meanwhile, in Sandakan, health authorities have lamented the poor registration rate for Covid-19 vaccination in the district.
District health officer Dr Johari Awang Besar said only 20 per cent or 71,600 of its 358,000 population have registered for the vaccination.
He said the number of those who have received two doses of vaccines was still below 10 per cent.
Speaking to reporters at the opening of the Dewan Libaran vaccination centre, he said the centre has so far dispensed vaccinations to 600 people.
"This hall can accommodate up to 1,600 vaccine recipients at one time. But we are maintaining a maximum of 600 people until day 20," Dr Johari said.
He said that on day 21, recipients would begin receiving their second doses.
The district is expected to open its third vaccination centre next month, which would increase the daily vaccination doses to 3,000.
To date, 127,838 people in Sabah have completed both doses of the vaccine.