KOTA KINABALU, March 27 — Sabah recorded an increase of 10 Covid-19 positive cases today, after just two new cases the day before, said Sabah health-director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi.

In a statement today, she said the new cases were discovered in the districts of Kota Kinabalu, Tawau, Kunak, Putatan and Beaufort.

With the new additions, Sabah now has a total of 182 cases of Covid-19, most of them in the east coast district of Tawau, which has been designated a red zone, and Lahad Datu, with 53 and 34 cases respectively.  The state capital of Kota Kinabalu follows with 26 cases.

Tuaran has 12 cases, while Sandakan and Kinabatangan, adjacent districts, both have 11.

“As of today, 10 patients who had coronavirus have recovered and were allowed to return home after two samples tested negative for the virus.

“Six were from Lahad Datu hospital, three from the Duchess of Kent hospital in Sandakan and one from Tawau.

There has been one death reported in the state so far, in Tawau.

Dr Rundi was previously reported as saying that the number of Covid-19 cases in Sabah appeared to have stalled because the Kota Kinabalu Health Laboratory could not conduct any more tests due to a severe shortage of Covid-19 reagents.

It was later reported that a non-governmental organisation, Osimal Foundation, stepped in on Wednesday to donate supplies to the state Health Department while trying to secure more reagents from overseas suppliers.

To help contain the outbreak, state health authorities have opened six more quarantine centres in Sipitang, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Penyu and Penampang, bringing the total to 19 across the state, with 623 being quarantined.