KOTA KINABALU: Sabahans have been urged to celebrate responsibly and not get carried away with the Hari Raya and Kaamatan festivities after two years of strict Covid-19 preventive measures.

       State Covid-19 spokesman Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said he understood the people's enthusiasm in wanting to let their hair down and soak in the fun.

       At the same time, he said, they should not overdo it because the state is not out of the woods yet despite its low daily Covid-19 cases at the moment.

       He said Sabah is not planning to impose stricter SOPs on Kaamatan gatherings but urged the people to take it upon themselves to prevent a surge of infections.

       “It will be the same standard operating procedures (SOP) for all festivities including Kaamatan," he said on Wednesday (May 4).

       The last time Sabah recorded cases in the triple digits was April 22 with 149 infections. Since then, the daily cases have been in the double digits, with the lowest figure of 12 recorded on Tuesday (May 3).

       Kaamatan is celebrated throughout the month of May with the climactic gala at the KadazanDusun Cultural Association hall in Penampang near here.

       Besides the cultural gala, the month is usually associated with plenty of merrymaking.

       Sabah recorded 23 new cases in the last 24 hours, 11 more than on Tuesday.

       Masidi said that as predicted, new daily cases will continue to rise throughout this month.

       “The public can help control the increase by always heeding the Health Ministry’s SOPs including opting to wear face masks even in places where they are no longer required to do so,” he said.

       He said nine out of the 27 districts detected new infections with Penampang and Sandakan having the highest at five each, followed by Tuaran with two.

       He added that 20 patients were under Categories 1 and 2, one under Category 3 and two in Category 5.