Labuan seeing exponential increase in active Covid cases

The number of active Covid-19 cases in Labuan has seen an exponential increase of 63-fold, with the total number of daily cases reaching over 200 in the past few days.

Labuan Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) chairman Rithuan Ismail said the island, which had fewer than 30 active cases early last month, now had 1,885.

“Meanwhile, four clusters, namely Victoria Merdeka, Simpang Sahari, Simpang Sungai and Patau-Patau are showing a sharp upward trend with a daily increase of more than 10 cases each.

“We have also recorded new fatalities daily for the past few days, taking Labuan’s death toll to 39 as of yesterday,” he told Bernama today.

Rithuan said as of yesterday, the cumulative cases of the Victoria Merdeka cluster stood at 361, followed by Simpang Sahari (320), Patau-Patau (249) and Simpang Sungai (156), while cases at the Layangan cluster had remained at 58 for a few weeks.

According to him, the number of people testing positive after having close contact with Covid-19 patients had also increased to over 10%.

“The number of people undergoing treatment and quarantine at Labuan Nucleus Hospital has risen to 155 compared to 134 at the low-risk quarantine centre of Labuan Corporation’s Dewan Serbaguna and 40 at the Bahagian Teknologi Pendidikan Tinggi, Jalan Sungai Lada.

“The number of cases at the Covid-19 Assessment Centre meanwhile has increased steadily to 1,555. The centre which is to assess the levels of infection of individuals opened a few days ago,” he said.

Labuan health department director Dr Ismuni Bohari said the Labuan Industrial Training Institute’s hostel, used again as a low-risk quarantine centre, commenced operations yesterday with 50 patients from Dewan Serbaguna shifted to the premises.

“The remaining patients there will be shifted today and tomorrow as we will turn the premises into a temporary Covid-19 hospital ward soon,” he said.

Labuan recorded 209 new Covid-19 cases today, bringing the island’s total number to 4,961.