The record 2,052 infections were 538 more than yesterday’s figure of 1,514, which was the previous record high.
This also means the infection records have been broken five times in the space of six days from Aug 6.
State local government and housing minister Masidi Manjun said more than a quarter of the new infections – 635 cases – were detected in Kota Kinabalu, which consistently makes the state capital the highest contributor to new cases.
This was followed by Penampang (221), Tawau (178), Tuaran (126) and Keningau (103), among others.
Masidi, who is Sabah’s Covid-19 spokesman, said workplace infections were behind the surge, with 209 workers of an offshore oil platform and 109 workers at the Hyatt Centric hotel construction site contributing to most of the numbers here.
“The workers consisted of Filipinos, Chinese and locals,” he told FMT.
“The oil and gas workers were on the oil rig so they could not have been infected by anyone else outside their circle. They were tested positive at their workplace (oil rig).”
He added that the construction workers were found infected while they were in their quarters.
Masidi said 44.5% of the infections, or 914 cases, were from close contacts while sporadic infections accounted for 21.4%, or 440 cases, of the infections.
He said some 35% of the cases, or 720 people, were in Category 1 (asymptomatic), 914 people in Category 2 (mild symptoms) and 22 people in Category 3 (pneumonia).
Six people were in Category 4 (pneumonia, requiring oxygen) and two in Category 5 (critical condition and requiring a ventilator to breathe), while 388 more were pending assessment.
Meanwhile, neighbouring Sarawak also reported the highest daily number of 1,216 Covid-19 cases over 24 hours up to noon today, the figure exceeding the 960 cases recorded on April 16.
According to Bernama, the state disaster management committee said the new cases pushed the cumulative number of positive cases to 84,603. It also reported two deaths today, which raised the death tally to 477.
Places with a high number of cases were Kuching (618 cases), Serian (223), Bau (116) and Samarahan (77), it said.
“A total of 1,019 cases or 83.8% of the new cases are in Category 1 (asymptomatic), 194 cases or 15.95% in Category 2 (mild symptoms), two cases or 0.17% in Category 3 (lung infection) and one case or 0.08% in Category 5 (lung infection and requiring ventilation),” it said.
The committee also reported that it recorded 735 recoveries today while the number of active cases totalled 8,147.
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