It marks the start of Covid-19 immunisation programme in Sabah as the state Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, Sabah Health director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi and Sabah police chief Datuk Hazani Ghazali received the first dose of Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine on March 4 in Kota Kinabalu.

Covid-19 spokesperson Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said the inoculation programme is expected to cover 104,130 people for the first phase. The herd immunity, which is supposed to be around 70 to 95 per cent, is scheduled to be achieved by Feb 2022.

However, such a target will take into account whether people are willing to get the vaccines and the mutation of Covid-19 virus.

As the National Security Council announced Recovery Movement Control Order at all states starting March 5, Sabah had intially refused to allow inter-district travel but changed the decision by allowing people to travel interdistric within zone except Nabawan.

Nabawan’s Sinsingon cluster, which has more than 200 cases and spread to Beaufort and Kota Kinabalu, caused the district placed under Movement Control Order (MCO) until March 16.

Masidi also advised the public to give cooperation to the health authorities in handling the outbreak cases after Nabawan Health Office posted at its Facebook Page that their personnel received threats as the people did not believe the high number of cases in that interior district.

Essential services, SPM/STPM examinations candidates and teachers from Nabawan,however, are allowed to cross districts with support documents during the MCO.

(Politics) Sebatik assemblyman remains independent , rejects resignation.

The Sabah Assembly speaker Datuk Kadzim Yahaya has rejected a pre-signed resignation letter by Sebatik assemblyman Hassan Amir Gani.

Kadzim said the pre-signed letter was void according to the law and Hassan had also declared he did not want to resign and remain as independent after quitting Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan).

Warisan’s deputy youth chief Ismail Ayub lodging a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) with hope that the anti-graft agency to probe why Hassan decided to leave Warisan even after signing and taking an oath of allegiance to the party.

Community: DBKK rounded up squatting sea gypsies in the city.

Social media abuzz with concern of immigrants erected makeshift shelters and people sleeping in the open near to the old water village at Sembulan.

Kota Kinabalu City Hall rounded up 165 of them as of March 5 in a joint operation dubbed as Ops Bangau. Those people would be placed at a temporary centre for Covid-19 screening before they are handed to Immigration department for further actions.

Economics: South Korean company bringing in RM2.3 billion

SK Nexillis, which is a subsidiary of SKC Co would be putting in a RM2.3 billion investment at the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP) and create 400 job opportunities.

The South Korean company will be setting up its first overseas copper foil manufacturing plant at the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park in Sepanggar.

Meanwhile, Sabah’s Invest Sabah Bhd (ISB) had had its first meeting since its establishment in Dec 2020 under the purview of the Industrial Development Ministry.

Its objective is to promote both local and foreign investments. It will act as a one-stop agency for investments into the state providing investors with information on investment requirements including licensing approvals and building networking platforms among others.

Update on Pan-Borneo Highway project in Sabah

Only 45 per cent of the 706kilometres road of Sabah Pan Borneo Highway has been completed. It is translated to 15 of the 35 packages were committed while the remaining packages were cancelled by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration.

Senior Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said Sabah government has asked the federal government for funds and mechanisms to award the remaining 20 packages.

The cabinet in principle has approved the appointment of project management companies to monitor the implementation of multi-billion ringgit highway in Sarawak and Sabah. Previously, the concept was known as project delivery partner but scrapped during PH era.