KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government has updated the standard operating procedures (SOP) for non-Muslim houses of worship which will come into effect tomorrow (Sept 20).
Sabah Covid-19 spokesperson Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said attendance at non-Muslim houses of worship would be at 30 per cent of the capacity, made up of fully vaccinated committee members and congregants.
"The houses of worship will be allowed to open from 6am to 8pm to attendees who must bring their own items of worship, which cannot be shared. Children under 12 are discouraged from attending.
"For marriage blessing ceremonies, it shall not exceed two hours with attendance at 30 per cent of the venue's capacity," he said in a statement.
Other SOP include sanitisation of the premises before any religious activity.
Masidi urged all religious followers to adhere to the SOP to break the chain of Covid-19 transmission.
Today, Sabah recorded a decline of new infections at 1,356 cases compared to 1,395 yesterday.
Masidi said close contact screenings remained the main contributor of the cases in Sabah with 766 infections or 56.5 per cent of the tally, followed by 380 cases (28 per cent) from symptomatic screenings, 199 cases (14.7 per cent) from other screenings, and 11 cases (0.8 per cent) from cluster screenings.
Of the 1,356 cases, Masidi said 651 were backlogged cases.
"A total of 606 cases (44.69 per cent) were those registered after two to three days, 32 cases (2.36 per cent) recorded between four and five days and 13 (0.96 per cent) were backlogged cases registered more than five days," he said.
He added that 337 (24.85 per cent) of the new cases fell under category 1, 933 cases (68.81 per cent) under category 2 and nine cases each in categories 3, 4 and 5, whereas 59 cases were still under investigation.
Sabah also registered 35 fatalities – 14 in Sandakan, nine in Kota Kinabalu, three in Keningau, two each in Putatan and Lahad Datu and one each in Kunak, Ranau, Tawau, Penampang and Nabawan.
On the vaccination status, 56.6 per cent of the adult population in Sabah have been fully vaccinated.