KOTA KINABALU: Sabah's daily Covid-19 cases dropped for the first time since Aug 4 to below 1,000 cases.

       State Covid-19 spokesman Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said a total of 962 positive cases were recorded on Saturday (Sept 25), with cases in Kota Kinabalu showing a marked decrease of 91 cases.

       Masidi said that the overall Covid-19 figures over the past week have been showing a downward trend with Saturday's figures reflecting a decrease of 311 cases in the state.

       "It is still too early to say if the downward trend will continue," he said in a statement here.

       He said Kota Kinabalu showed the most significant drop by 112 cases while other districts that recorded a significant decrease were Lahad Datu, Kota Marudu, Keningau, Penampang, Beluran, Telupid and Tongod.

       However, Tawau, Putatan, Kalabakan and Tuaran districts showed an increasing trend.

       Close contact cases made up 492 (51.1%) of the new cases, Masidi said, adding that 368 (38.3%) were symptomatic cases.

       Masidi once again urged the public to maintain strict observance of standard operating procedures (SOPs) as the number of symptomatic or sporadic cases remains high in the state.

       He said many sporadic cases detected in Kalabakan accounted for 84.6% of the new cases, Lahad Datu (61%), Tawau (45.3%), Sandakan (44.4%) and Kota Kinabalu (37.3%).

       Of the 962 cases, 144 cases or 14.9% were patients in Category 1, 717 cases or 74.5% in Category 2, four cases in Category 3, three cases in Category 4 and seven cases in Category 5.

       Masidi said 87 cases were still under investigation and 91.7% of the total patients were Malaysian citizens.