Sabah medic cluster hits three hospitals, 31 infected

• UPDATED 6.12PM | Added brief update on the availability of PPE.

CORONAVIRUS | The medical staff cluster in Sabah has affected three hospitals, with 31 infections so far.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the institutions affected are the Queen Elizabeth 2 Hospital, the Likas Women and Children's Hospital, and the Keningau Hospital.

The cluster was first detected on April 2, after a health worker at Queen Elizabeth 2 Hospital began showing symptoms such as coughing and flu.

Contact tracing has turned up 31 infections thus far, including two new infections today.

Of those infected, 23 are health workers while eight of them are relatives.

Noor Hisham also provided a quick update on the status of protective personal equipment (PPE) in the country, saying that procurement is ongoing.

“On the status of PPE, procurement is ongoing. We do have enough stock for the PPE,” he said.

There are 18 different PPE items, he explained, and they are looking at their stock from the states and respective hospitals.

“We have more than enough at least for a month, but there are certain PPE items that are running out, and this is where we need to highlight the item,” he said.

He gave the example of the N95 masks which was a big issue, but he said they have already addressed this and they now have enough stock of N95 masks to last for at least another 19 days.

“We have more than 19 days that we can procure for N95 masks. Although there is a perception that we are short of PPE, we do have enough so far,” he said.

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