Expect more Sabah cases: Dept

Published on: Saturday, March 14, 2020

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Pic in social media of a suspected case in Telipok Ria.

Kota Kinabalu:
The State Health Department anticipates the possibility of more positive Covid-19 cases being detected, even though there is only one positive case so far.Its Director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi said it is imperative for the public not to panic but to give full cooperation to all district health offices throughout Sabah in an effort to address this outbreak.
So far, she said there is only one confirmed positive covid-19 case in Tawau when commenting on a message in social media about a positive Covid-19 case in Papar.

The Daily Express was also earlier informed by a Papar health source that a case was detected in that district, after a patient was admitted on Thursday.
Daily Express also received many calls questioning the authenticity of the official figures issued by the authorities. They pointed out that data issued by the State Health and Peoples’ Well Being Ministry under the heading “Notification of Suspect Person Under Investigation for Sabah showed that 340 people were tested for the virus in the State of which 15 were positive. They comprised 14 Malaysians and one Indonesian. However, when media representatives who are in the Ministry’s whatsapp group queried it about the discrepancy in the figures as well as authenticity of a viral photo of officials investigating a case in Telipok Ria, it was met with silence.
“The Sabah Health Department would like to advise the people to practice high level of cleanliness such as regularly washing their hands with water and soap, they should not organise or conduct meeting sessions or events involving crowds and avoid shaking hands or contacts if symptoms occur such as fever, cough, sneezing and shortness of breath.

“If they have the symptoms, they are advised not to patronise public places so as to reduce spread of contagious diseases caused by respiratory droplets among the communities.
“Get medical attention immediately if you have symptoms of respiratory tract infections such as fever, cough or difficulty in breathing,” Dr Christina said in a Friday statement here.
She said the public is also warned not to spread unverified news or information regarding the Covid-19 incident as the latest information on current issues of the Covid-19 incident is available from the Ministry of Health’s website at moh.gov.my.
She said the State Health Department together with the Ministry of Health Malaysia will continue to monitor the incidence of Covid-19 infections from time to time and the public will be kept informed.