Daily Covid-19 cases expected to remain high until more get vaccinated, says Masidi

KOTA KINABALU: Daily Covid-19 cases in Sabah will only reduce after a significant percentage of people have received their vaccination, says state Covid-19 spokesman Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun.

As of Monday (Aug 9), the percentage of the state’s adult population to be fully immunised was still low at 17.6%, while 40.8% have received their first dose.

Commenting on the state recording a high number of 1,383 cases on Tuesday (Aug 10), 136 cases more than the previous day, Masidi said the number was predictable and expected.

“The virus is already in the community, contact tracing becomes more difficult and lockdown to a certain extent has been rendered ineffective.

“The virus’s ‘playing field’ has expanded and now it's more difficult to rein it in.

“Our strategy now is to vaccinate every adult as soon as possible so that the virus would run out of victims or have a lesser number of victims to infect.

“Until and unless a significant percentage of the population is vaccinated, the number (of daily cases) will remain high,” said Masidi, who is also state Local Government and Housing Minister.

He said the Sabah Health Department and related agencies were working towards expediting immunisation, while the state government continued to ensure that vaccination capacity was increased by ensuring sufficient vaccine supply.

Sabah aims to vaccinate 60% of the targeted population by October and reach herd immunity by year-end.

Meanwhile, Kota Kinabalu contributed the highest number of Tuesday’s total with 326 cases, followed by Tawau with 168.

Masidi said Sandakan showed an increase with 138 cases, up 86 cases from Monday, and a new cluster called Timbua in Ranau has 48 cumulative cases so far.

“With close contact cases contributing the majority or 54.2% (749) of today’s total, it is a reminder that we need to reduce social activities with friends so as not to be exposed to the risk of infection,” he stressed, reiterating that there are virus carriers who are asymptomatic.