KOTA KINABALU: The daily report of positive Covid-19 cases does not reflect the real situation, said Sabah Health department director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi.
She said the number of tests that can be conducted at the Kota Kinabalu public health laboratory is limited due to lack of reagents.
“On March 24 (yesterday), there were seven samples reported by the laboratory that are positive for Covid-19.
“Only one of them is a new case while the rest of the samples are repeated tests,” she said in a statement, adding that such a situation is faced nationwide.
As of yesterday, Sabah recorded 170 cases with highest in Tawau (49), Lahad Datu (34), Kota Kinabalu (23), Tuaran (12), Kinabatangan and Sandakan (11), Beaufort (6), Kota Belud and Kunak (5), Putatan and Sipitang (4), Papar and Ranau (2), Semporna and Penampang (1).
Two plantations in Kinabatangan and Kalabakan, Tawau were closed temporarily as there are positive cases reported in both districts.
Meanwhile, Rundi reminded those who have returned from other states or overseas that they are required to be quarantined at the designated centres or they can be charged under Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988.
Five people from Tawau and three from Papar have been taken action against for defying the order.
There are 553 people being kept at 13 quarantine centres but six have been allowed to return, while 4,022 are home quarantined, and 3,790 close contacts are still being monitored by the state Health department.
As for the viral video of Lahad Datu hospital staff sewing their own personal protection equipment (PPE), she said those were their own initiative pending for those supplies to arrive.
“It does not mean that the health authority could not procure those items nor being neglected by the state and federal government (of their needs).”