Diving activities allowed

Masidi (left) at the press conference.

KOTA KINABALU: Diving activities are now allowed in Sabah but the ban on inter-district travel at red zones remains in place.

Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun said that the decision to allow diving is because it is categorized under sports and recreational activities that does not involve physical proximity.

He said diving is allowed on the condition that boats ferrying divers to the dive site carry only 30 percent of their capacity and comply with social distancing requirement.

On another note, the sole company licensed to handle clinical waste in Sabah, Sedafiat Sdn Bhd, receives between six metric tonnes and 13 metric tonnes of clinical wastes from the 45 quarantine centres in Sabah.

Masidi said that the Environment Department has been monitoring the company since March this year to ensure they comply with the guidelines set in the handling and management of clinical wastes.

He also said that to address the pile-up of medical wastes in Lok Kawi, where the company is situated, the construction of an incinerator has been suggested to destroy the wastes.

Another solution he mentioned is to ship the medical wastes to Peninsular Malaysia for them to be properly disposed of.

He added that prior to the shipment, the wastes must be properly packaged to ensure they do not compromise the safety and standard fixed.

As of yesterday, another 326 Covid-19 cases were detected in Sabah with one more death reported in Lahad Datu. This brings the total tally of Covid-19 cases in Sabah to 28,771.

About 153 cases or 46.93 percent resulted from close contacts followed by 101 cases (30.98%) from ongoing clusters, 28 cases from symptom-testing, 17 cases of community testing and 27 cases from other categories.

Masidi said that altogether, there are 90 clusters in Sabah with 64 still active. The cluster with the largest number of cases is the Kapayan prison which remains active until now.

The number of patients discharged yesterday was 459 bringing the total number of recovered patients to 25,567.

Meanwhile, 638 patients are still being hospitalized while 1,576 are being treated at PKRC (low risk treatment centres).

He also noted that 61 people are being treated at intensive care wards and 14 people require ventilation assistance.

Only 30.91 percent of beds available in Sabah are being utilized presently.

When presenting the daily Covid-19 briefing for Sabah, Masidi also said that the Temporary Detention Centre in Sibuga, Sandakan will undergo Enhanced Movement Control Order from Dec 2 to 15.

He said that 324 tests had been conducted there, with 104 detected positive involving inmates and staff of the centre.

The implementation of the EMCO involved 1,209 individuals consisting of 1,104 inmates and 105 personnel.

Kg Desa Bajau and Kg Dasar Baru in Lahad Datu will also undergo EMCO during the same period.

The Health Ministry had carried out 665 tests and recorded 90 cumulated cases from the two villages.

The EMCO will affect 914 houses with 4,934 people.

During the period of the EMCO, all social and economic activities will be halted with only retail outlets allowed to operate between 6am and 6pm and the market opens twice a week.

Masidi also said that the average compliance level of the people is 97.88 percent, with the folks in Kinabatangan, Sipitang and Kota Belud recording the highest percentage of compliance at 99 percent.

He mentioned that the shortest recovery period for Covid-19 in Sabah is 10 days but noted that this could be longer for people with prevailing health conditions.

Masidi also commented that politics should take the back seat and that efforts should be focused on stopping the pandemic from worsening.

He said this in reply to a question on the Bugaya by-election which has been announced by the Election Commission to take place in January 4.

However, he reminded that the decision is not up to the State government and urged that the precedent set by Batu Sapi to be made as a consideration.

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