State local government and housing minister Masidi Manjun said the Jalan Bypass Kologon cluster was triggered by a 16-year-old student at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Kundasang.

He said she started developing symptoms on Jan 17 and a RT-PCR test later confirmed she was infected with the virus.

“Close contact screening of 70 people was carried out by the state health department and so far six other students tested positive as well. They were all roommates with the girl,” he said when contacted.

He added all the girls only showed symptoms classified under Category 1 and 2. They have been isolated and given the appropriate treatment.

Last Saturday, SMK Tambunan sparked the Jalan Kepayan Lama cluster with more than 30 students testing positive for Covid-19.

Following that, three other schools, including a madrasah (Islamic religious school), were declared Covid-19 clusters over three consecutive days from Jan 18.

The first was the Puri Ranau cluster, which saw seven students infected with the virus at SMK Ranau, followed by the Jalan Pertukangan cluster with 73 students infected at SMK Sandakan.

On Jan 20, a 53-year-old teacher at a madrasah in the Putatan district triggered the Pandan Pandan cluster, which then saw at least 15 others infected.

The latest Sabah cluster pushed the daily infections in the last 24 hours up to 218 cases compared with 176 cases yesterday.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST DATA ON THE COVID-19 SITUATION IN MALAYSIA