COVID-19 | A bus driver in Sandakan has tested positive for Covid-19 and this has led to the discovery of a new cluster with at least 20 people in the Sabah town.

The man developed a sore throat and fever on Sept 27 and tested positive for Covid-19 on Oct 3 after he was admitted to the Duchess of Kent Hospital, Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said today.

Contact tracing has found that at least 19 other Malaysians had been infected after contact with the driver. They make up the new Ramai-Ramai cluster.

Some 146 others who had contact with the driver have been tested and are awaiting their results, Noor Hisham said in his daily briefing.

Meanwhile, a one-year-old girl in Sabah was one of the four fatal victims of Covid-19 announced today bringing the cumulative death toll to 141. The child, who was the 140th death announced, is the youngest Covid-19 casualty in Malaysia to date.

She was rushed to the Semporna Hospital’s Emergency and Trauma Unit on Oct 1 with breathing difficulties and required a ventilator. She died at 4.25pm yesterday.

Meanwhile, three other deaths announced today included a 60-year-old man who sought treatment at the same hospital on Sept 1. He tested positive on Sept 30 and died at 5.05am on Oct 4.

The other two deaths are another 60-year-old man who died at the Duchess of Kent Hospital, Sandakan on Oct 4 after 10 days of treatment and an 85-year-old who was found unconscious and not breathing.

The 85-year-old was declared dead at Hospital Pulau Pinang on Oct 5 at 7.50am. The man is believed to be the inmate who reportedly died at the Penang Remand Prison yesterday morning.

This is the fourth known detention centre exposed to Covid-19 over the past fortnight.

The others are the Tawau Prison (where the Benteng LD cluster was found), the Alor Setar Prison (where the Tembok cluster was found) and the Kamunting Detention Centre (linked to the Batu cluster).

Today, 394 new cases were discovered at the Tembok cluster, making up 57 percent of all cases announced today.

The Tembok cluster, which was discovered after a prison staff died, now has 1,047 cases.

The Benteng LD cluster has 951 cases while the new Batu cluster discovered today has seven cases among the detention centre’s staff and their family members.

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