Sabah's Covid-19 daily cases continue to show a declining trend, says Masidi

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah's Covid-19 daily positive cases continue to show a declining trend for the fourth day, recording 1,119 new cases on Wednesday (Sept 22), the lowest since Aug 6.

State Covid-19 spokesman Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said that overall 15 districts showed a decline while 11 other districts showed a slight increase with Kuala Penyu recording no new cases.

The state has been recording declining figures over the last five days since it began to spike to over 2,000 daily and crossing 3,000 cases in August.

The state also recorded 87 new deaths on Wednesday.

Masidi said the new cases for Wednesday also includes six cases involving detainees and seven offshore oil rig workers.

The city saw 150 new cases, Sandakan (102), Lahad Datu (100), Pitas (70) and Keningau (66).

Masidi said that among the districts that recorded increases were northern Pitas, Telupid, Tongod and Kinabatangan.

Of the total cases, he said 21 cases came under the more serious Category three to five while the others were under the less serious Category One and Two.

In the Sabah State Assembly earlier on Wednesday, Masidi told the house that the government had allocated more than RM3bil in various various types of assistance for the people to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic since last year.

He said that the Federal government had channelled RM1.86bil while the state allocated RM1.25b for various measures to mitigate and handle the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said the Federal funds included those channelled to the Sabah Health Department as well as through the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA).

As for the state government allocations, he said it was for the second and third edition of Bantuan Sabah Prihatin amounting to RM324mil.

"Over a million recipients benefited, among others, through food baskets in Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) areas and families listed under the e-Kasih, one-off payments for targeted B40 groups, orphans, disabled people, single mothers, public transport drivers, lorry drivers, and university students," he said.

"The most important thing is people benefited from the assistance either from the Federal or state governments," said Masidi, who is state Local Government and Housing Minister cum state Finance Minister 2.