KOTA KINABALU: The high percentage of sporadic COVID-19 cases in Sabah should be seen as a warning and reminder to the people to continue to adhere to the standard operating procedures (SOP) to curb the pandemic.

Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said sporadic cases accounted for 36 per cent of the total 294 new infections today, 38 per cent of the 351 new cases Saturday and 42 per cent of the 374 cases reported last Friday.

"We need to comply with the SOPs at all times. We were shocked by the emergence of the Omicron variant which is said to be spreading much faster than the previous variant," he said in a statement today.

Masidi, who is also the state COVID-19 spokesman, said of the total number of new cases today, 153 cases were detected through close contact screening, thus showing that there was a high probability that the people in Sabah were still carrying out activities without complying with the SOPs.

Meanwhile, he said four death cases were reported today, two of which were in Tuaran and one each in Kota Marudu and Sipitang.

-- BERNAMA