Covid-19: Sabah hospitals increase Covid-19 wards amid rise in cases but no cause for alarm, says Dr Rose

KOTA KINABALU: Many hospitals in Sabah have converted their normal wards for Covid-19 use following the rising number of cases this month, says Datuk Dr Rose Nani Mudin.

However, the Sabah Health director assured the people that the situation was still manageable.

"Converting the wards is to better handle Covid-19 cases as they come," she said when contacted Wednesday (Feb 16).

Dr Rose revealed that the occupancy rates for Sabah hospitals stood at more than 80% (as of Feb 14) while the intensive care unit (ICU) occupancy was at 33.6% as of Feb 16.

These include the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Women and Children’s Hospital in Likas, Duchess of Kent Hospital in Sandakan, and the Tawau, Lahad Datu and Keningau hospitals, which have ICU wards for Covid-19 patients, she added.

"The numbers are still manageable with enough space for patients and there is no need to worry about hospital occupancy," she said.

Sabah has a total bed capacity of 4,186 in various facilities statewide with hospitals having 1,566 beds, low-risk centres with 2,220 units, temporary detention centres with 372 beds and 28 units in private health facilities.

As of Feb 15, 2,842 patients were being treated in various health facilities statewide.

Out of these, 1,306 were in hospitals, 1,344 in quarantine and low-risk centres, 190 in temporary detention centres, and two in private facilities.

A total of 46 people were under critical care.

Sabah has seen relatively high case numbers in the past few days, recording 4,374 new cases with eight deaths on Feb 15; 4,035 cases with five deaths on Feb 14; 3,891 cases with five deaths on Feb 13; and 4,107 cases with one death on Feb 12.

Sabah started recording four-digit new daily cases since Feb 5.

Minister in charge of Covid-19 matters in the state, Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun, said the cases were expected to continue rising in the coming days due to the high percentages of symptomatic cases that caused a faster and wider spread of the virus.