A SUDDEN spike in Covid-19 cases in Malaysia is due to a backlog clearance in Sabah, said director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah. 

While answering a question on why Sabahans had to wait for their admission to quarantine centres and hospitals, Noor Hisham admitted the ministry had a backlog of cases and now it has been cleared.  

“We did have a backlog initially but now we have cleared it. 

“That’s the reason why we see a sudden increase of cases,” he said in a press conference in Putrajaya today. 

Malaysia reported a record-breaking 871 Covid-19 cases today, just a day after recording 869 cases.  

Of today’s cases, Sabah recorded 702 new cases, which is 80.6% of today’s total.

Noor Hisham said the ministry has worked to reduce the waiting time for the results before an individual is admitted. 

He said that Sabah has the capacity to conduct 2,600 reverse transcription-polymerase chain reactions (RT-PCR) daily and that the ministry has shifted more than 100,000 Covid-19 antigen rapid test kits (RTK) to the state. 

He also said to increase the testing capacity for the state, the ministry has outsourced testing to the private sector and are sending samples to Institute for Medical Research and the National Public Health Laboratory. 

“So far we are carrying out antigen RTK and RT-PCR. You can see that in Sabah, our capacity for RT-PCR is 2,600 daily.  

“In terms of antigen RTK, we have already shifted more than 100,000 and we will continue to increase the capacity for testing and more importantly public health intervention will continue in Sabah to detect more cases,” he said.

He added that medical staff could trace positive cases after testing and admit them to either quarantine centres or the hospital depending on their severity. 

Noor Hisham also said they are hoping to bring down the R-naught value from 1.5 to less than 1.0 in four weeks, to curb the infection’s transmission.  

He said this could be achieved if the public adhered to the strict standard operating procedure outlined by the government. – October 18, 2020.