Sabah Falls In Line With Lockdown Extension

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The decision was taken as a precautionary measure to curb the spike in infections, says chief minister Hajiji Noor. (Bernama pic)KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government has announced that the state will comply with the nationwide lockdown under the movement control order (MCO 3.0) which has been extended to June 28.
In a brief statement, chief minister Hajiji Noor said the decision was taken after an assessment by the state disaster management committee on Covid-19 at a meeting earlier today.
“The decision is taken as a precautionary measure to curb the spike in infections in the state,” he said.
In the past, the state government did not always follow the full-scale lockdowns imposed by the federal government.
During the initial announcement of MCO 3.0 late last month, social media was awash with questions from Sabahans on whether the state would go along with the lockdown.
Meanwhile, the state has recorded 378 new cases in the past 24 hours, an increase of 69 from yesterday. This is the 25th consecutive day that Sabah registered three-figure infections.
State local government and housing minister Masidi Manjun said the high number of positive cases was due to the health ministry intensifying targeted house-to-house screenings at localities under enhanced MCO.
He added the tests were not only concentrated on close contacts.
“As a result, the number of cases is expected to surge in the coming days until the mass screenings are completed,” he said, in his daily Covid-19 statement.
Masidi pointed out that today’s cases are fewer than what the authorities anticipated earlier.
He said this was likely due to the precautionary steps taken such as the tightening of inter-district travel, targeted study on localities under EMCO and the modifications of SOPs as guidelines for the people. - FMT

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