The new SOPs will come into effect on Thursday.
Local government and housing minister Masidi Manjun said the index cases involved two married couples from Labuan who visited Tawau for the Hari Raya celebrations.
Masidi, who is the state’s official Covid-19 spokesman, said the government now requires those intending to come to Sabah to take the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test instead of antigen rapid test kit (RTK Ag).
“Non-Sabah residents are now required to undergo a 14-day quarantine at hotels at their own cost,” he said, in his daily Covid-19 statement today.
“Sabah residents, permanent residents or those having work permits must also go under home isolation for 14 days on entering the state.”
He noted they can stay in either of the 17 hotels in the state capital and Tawau listed as quarantine centres by the government, adding that the state would add on more hotels if the existing ones become overcrowded.
Masidi said government officers are allowed into Sabah provided they have taken the PCR test and official supporting letters stating they have official work in the state.
He said foreign investors need to apply for a special approval from the state government first before being allowed to enter.
Elaborating on the Labuan couples, Masidi said, in the first case, the couple entered the state after taking the RTK Ag test, both of which were negative, on May 7.
“However, after spending a week in Tawau to celebrate Raya at Ladang Abaka, they started to show symptoms on May 12 and were tested positive for the virus two days later – they had infected nine family members in the house,” he said.
In the second case, Masidi said the couple returned to Tawau on May 8 and was confirmed to have been infected on May 16.
“In the period, the couple, who stayed at Kampung Sg Imam, also visited family members at Taman Berkeley and subsequently infected 43 relatives,” he said.
“For these reasons, the Sabah government today decided to tighten the SOPs to enter the state,” he said.
He said the state recorded 95 new infections in the past 24 hours, an increase of 35 cases from yesterday.
The cumulative cases in Sabah is now 59,504, with 511 active cases.
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