KOTA KINABALU: Sabah's Covid-19 daily cases dropped below the 500 mark for the first time since Feb 3 on Saturday (March 19).

       State Covid-19 spokesman Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said a total of 421 new cases were recorded on Saturday and reflected a sharp decrease of 175 cases from Friday (March 18).

       He said reducing trends across the state were reflecting a stabilisation of the pandemic which in mid-February saw cases spike to an all-time high of over 5,000 cases.

       He said almost all districts in Sabah are showing signs of stabilisation with 13 of the 27 districts recording only single-digit new cases.

       Of the 11 districts that recorded double-digit cases, only Tuaran (55 cases), Papar (37 cases), Penampang (35 cases), Putatan (27 cases) and Beaufort (25 cases) recorded a relatively higher number of cases.

       Masidi said Kota Kinabalu with 104 new cases was the only district that still recorded three-digit new cases (104 cases) but there was a decrease of 44 cases compared to Friday.

       Lahad Datu and Nabawan did not record any new cases on Saturday.

       Masidi also noted that 18 active clusters in the state with Menawo Access Cluster in interior Keningau being declared as over.

       A total of 412 or 97.86% of the 421 new cases Saturday were in Category 1 and 2, two cases in Category 3, four cases in Category 4 and three cases in Category 5.