KOTA KINABALU: The Federal Government must help Sabah by deploying more medical personnel and speed-up vaccinations as the state's frontliners are overwhelmed by the number of new Covid-19 cases, says Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin.

       "Sabah has been hit hard over the past few days, recording over 2,000 new Covid-19 cases and more than half the cases involved are in the three districts around Greater Kota Kinabalu - Penampang, Putatan, and Tuaran," he said.

       He added that experts are predicting that the pandemic will continue to peak over the next eight weeks.

       As such, he said there is a need for the state to get more medical help as well as push up the availability of vaccines.

       He said that staff from Queen Elizabeth Hospital 2 have already been re-deployed to the Covid-19-dedicated Queen Elizabeth Hospital 1 to meet medical manpower needs.

       "General outpatients are being redirected to government clinics like the Luyang Health Clinic," he said after donating two tents to the Luyang Clinic here.

       He said that people should take the threat of the pandemic seriously and observe standard operating procedures as the 1,258 beds available at hospitals here are fully utilised.

       "At this point in time, please don't go outside if you don't need to, and just stay at home,” said Chan.