Swab samples pending in Sabah grows to over 12,000
COVID-19 | Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister Masidi Manjun revealed that there are still 12,720 samples pending Covid-19 tests in the state.
This is an increase from the 10,400 outstanding samples he announced on Tuesday...
COVID-19 | Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister Masidi Manjun revealed that there are still 12,720 samples pending Covid-19 tests in the state.
This is an increase from the 10,400 outstanding samples he announced on Tuesday.
He told a press conference today that the current figure includes both newly received samples as well as the backlog of older samples.
“I see this figure in two aspects. Firstly, there is indeed a backlog of samples waiting for testing.
“But at the same time, the outstanding samples also reflect the Sabah Health Department’s efforts to conduct tests more broadly and involving more people in Sabah.
“This has contributed to the high number of outstanding samples,” he said in Kota Kinabalu.
For the record, the three government laboratories in Sabah have the capacity to conduct 2,600 reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction tests for Covid-19 per day, but regularly conduct more tests than their rated capacity each day.
Some excess samples are being outsourced to private laboratories in Sabah for testing, or flown on daily air force flights to be tested at the Institute of Medical Research in Kuala Lumpur.
Meanwhile, Masidi told reporters that the state government has recommended the National Security Council (NSC) to extend the conditional movement control order (MCO) in Sabah which is slated to end of Oct 26.
This is because of the high number of Covid-19 cases being reported in the state, with 528 cases being reported today.
However, he declined to say whether conditional MCO restrictions in the state will be tightened, or how long the extension will be. The matter is at the discretion of the NSC, he said.
Referring to a case of cross-district Covid-19 transmission to Nabawan, which was previously categorised as a “green zone”, Masidi said the state government is considering to impose additional conditions for those permitted to travel across district boundaries.
“The state Covid-19 committee is still in discussion about the best way to do this, but what is for certain is that those permitted to cross district boundaries must prove they are healthy and don’t have Covid-19 symptoms,” he added.
The case in Nabawan was reported on Oct 21.
Masidi had previously disclosed that the case might have involved a fish distributor in Papar who may have acquired the infection at the Papar Fish Market, which is likely linked to the Basung cluster in Kudat.
However, he stressed that the case is still under investigation by the Health Ministry.
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