Illegal Cabbie Triggers Cluster In Southwestern Sabah

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There have so far been 44 cases attributed to the Kota Klias-Beaufort cluster which was caused by the ‘teksi sapu’ driver.KOTA KINABALU: A “teksi sapu”, or illegal taxi driver, was behind the Kota Klias-Beaufort cluster that has resulted in at least 44 people being infected with Covid-19.
Sabah local government and housing minister Masidi Manjun said the 69-year-old man had infected his relatives and customers at several localities in Kota Klias, in southwestern Sabah.
“The cluster was detected after the index case was found to be infected following an RTK-Antigen test during a pre-admission screening at the Beaufort Hospital on July 3,” Masidi said in his daily Covid-19 statement today.
“From the 71 close contacts screened, the cluster showed a positivity rate of 60.5%, with a total of 44 cases detected, including four new infections today.”
Meanwhile, Masidi, who is Sabah’s official Covid-19 spokesman, said the high number of new infections continued in the state with 370 cases recorded in the last 24 hours.
He said several districts recorded spikes after screenings by the health department, starting with the state capital with 113 cases, which is an increase of 61 cases from yesterday.
This was followed by Tawau with 55 cases, 29 each in Penampang and Kudat, and 23 each in Kota Belud and Sipitang.
“Besides that, 148 cases or 40% of the cases today came from close contact screenings and 115 cases from screenings at existing clusters (among others).
“A total of 85 cases are from screenings that involved prison inmates, with 49 coming from the Tembok Kota Kinabalu cluster (Kepayan prison) and 36 from screenings that involved detainees under police investigations in Tawau and Kota Kinabalu,” Masidi said. - FMT

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