KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is gearing towards stricter Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) as the state logged an all-time high of 2,052 Covid-19 cases.
Sabah Covid-19 spokesman Datuk Masidi Manjun said the updated SOP would take effect tomorrow.
"The listed new SOP among others are all eateries must ensure that only customers and employees who have been fully vaccinated and have low-risk Covid-19 status on their MySejahtera application are allowed to enter the premises.
"A similar rule applies to customers and employees of all the supermarkets and hypermarkets in the state.
"Apart from that, for domestic tourism purposes, hotel operations and accommodation are allowed to open for customers in the same district provided that the customers and hotel or homestay employees have been fully vaccinated," he said.
Masidi said the spread of the Covid-19 virus in two workplaces – an offshore oil rig and a construction site – had caused the number of daily cases in Sabah to soar to 2,052.
"At the offshore oil rig, 209 workers tested positive as they were signing off, while the Hyatt Centric construction site (opposite Suria Sabah) involved 109 workers, mostly Filipinos, Chinese nationals and several Malaysians.
"Virus transmission on the offshore oil rig and the construction site in the state capital has put Kota Kinabalu with the highest number of new infections for the state today at 635 cases," he said.
Masidi said out of today's 2,052 new cases, 44.5 per cent or 914 cases were from close contacts followed by symptomatic screenings with 440 cases (21.4 per cent), existing clusters (91 cases), targeted screenings (71 cases) and others (296 cases).
"Most of the cases were in Category 1 (asymptomatic) or Category 2 (mild symptoms) at 720 patients and 914 patients, respectively, with 22 people in Category 3 (pneumonia).
"Six people were in Category 4 (pneumonia, requiring oxygen) and two in Category 5 (critical condition and requiring a ventilator to breathe), while 388 are still pending categorisation," he said.
Sabah recorded 28 fatalities with Kota Kinabalu logging eight deaths, followed by Tawau (six), Tuaran (four), Sandakan (three), Kuala Penyu (two) and one each in Putatan, Keningau, Sipitang, Penampang and Beluran.
One new cluster was reported in Beaufort dubbed the Batu Linting cluster, stemming from a religious gathering held at a house of a 34-year-old woman. So far, 29 positive cases have been detected.
Apart from Kampung Batu Linting, the infections were also detected in Kampung Mansud, Kampung Bundu and Kampung Kupang in Kuala Penyu.