Returning Sabah students urged to fill up health declaration honestly
KOTA KINABALU: All students returning to Sabah during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period must fill up their health declaration form honestly, said state health director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi.
She said the health screening would be conducted at the entry points and if needed, students would be referred to the hospital or undergoing a 14-day quarantine process.
“This directive also applies to all passengers entering Sabah from overseas or from other parts of the country,” she said in a statement here today.
Dr Christina said the Sabah Health Department was always taking precautionary measures to control the spread of COVID-19 including placing individuals coming from outside Sabah in the quarantine centre or to undergo quarantine at home.
“Although temperature screening using thermal scanners is done at the entry points, such a step is necessary as many cases of COVID-19 reported in Sabah show no symptoms or only mild symptoms,” she said.
In another development, Dr Christina said blood supply at the blood bank units in hospitals in Sabah had dropped by 24 per cent since the MCO implementation as nearly 98 per cent of blood donation drive campaigns had been cancelled.
“The situation is expected to continue throughout Ramadan and Raya celebration,” she said, adding that the programme should continue to ensure the blood supply at the hospital was not affected by the outbreak as there were Thalasaemia patients and those undergoing surgery would need it.
Thus, to ensure the safety of the blood donors during the blood donation, the Ministry of Health has issued a guideline for the conduct of the activity, she said.
“Blood donation by appointment is a priority in order to maintain social distancing and to ensure situation under control while the activity is being carried out,” she said.
Dr Christina said the hospital’s blood bank unit also provides pick up services to ferry a small group of blood donors to a hospital or blood donation location.
Donors and organisers of the blood donation campaign should contact the nearest hospital blood bank unit for more information.
— BERNAMA
