KOTA KINABALU, Sept 28 — Sabah said today it is expected to open up travel within designated zones again by October 1, as long as districts hit a target of 60 per cent of its adults vaccinated against Covid-19.

Sabah Covid-19 spokesman Datuk Masidi Manjun said that all the districts within the zones had to reach the same target in order for the government to lift the current interdistrict travel ban.

"Districts within the six zones that have yet to achieve a vaccination rate of 60 per cent of its adult population will be excluded from the zoning system,” said Masidi.

According to data from the CITF, 10 districts in Sabah have yet to achieve the 60 per cent threshold.

Four of them — Kinabatangan, Telupid, Tongod and Sandakan — have not even reached 50 per cent while Tawau, Semporna, Papar, Nabawan, Keningau and Kunak are within the 50 per cent range.

The zoning system which was introduced in March, divides the states into six zones to spur economic activities including domestic tourism.

The zones consist of Kota Kinabalu, Kota Belud, Ranau, Tuaran, Penampang, Putatan and Papar in Zone 1, Beaufort, Kuala Penyu and Sipitang in Zone 2; Kudat, Kota Marudu and Pitas in Zone 3; Sandakan, Beluran, Kinabatangan and Tongod in Zone 4; Tawau, Semporna, Lahad Datu, Kunak and Kalabakan in Zone 5; and Keningau, Tambunan and Tenom in Zone 6.

Masidi had previously said that the state government was planning to reimplement the zoning system when the state reached a 60 per cent vaccination rate.

CITF currently places Sabah’s adult population at 59.1 per cent vaccinated while the state says it is 61.5.

The state ramped up its vaccination drive in July but is still lagging behind the rest of the country in last place.

To spur the rate; it began vaccinating teenagers with the Pfizer vaccine earlier than others but it is still running behind its maximum capacity of 82,000 jabs per day with less than half of that in the last three days.

At its peak, it vaccinated some 63,000 people.

Today, the state also registered some 965 new cases of Covid-19, up from 751 yesterday but generally in keeping with a downtrend.

At its peak, it registered some 3,487 cases on August 26.