total of 475 medical and public health workers to tawau, lahad datu, semporna and kota kinabalu. november 2020 on 11 november, the director-general noor hisham abdullah identified three new clusters in the state: the karamunting cluster, saga cluster and haven cluster. august 2021 on 17 august, the minister in charge of covid-19 matters in sabah, datuk seri panglima masidi manjun reported a record of 2,103 new cases, with close contacts making up 58% of these cases (1,229 individuals). tawau reported 255 new cases, sandakan 208 cases, tuaran 200 cases, keningau 163 new cases, and penampang 135 new cases. a new cluster called the "kluster sawit baiduri" consisting of 77 positive cases was identified in lahad datu. implications masks and hand sanitiser shortages sabah's capital city of kota kinabalu have reported shortages on both surgical masks and hand sanitiser since january. there were reports that some businesses in the state taking advantage of the situation by selling overpriced masks during the period which led them being fined by the domestic trade and consumer affairs ministry branch of sabah. economic impact many of the state residents in each districts rush to stock up essential items once the first positive case were reported among netizens even before the official announcement of the first case was made by the state government of sabah. with the rising number of positive cases been reported, residents in one of sabah's district of kunak are reportedly buying large quantities of rice to stock up foods. the deputy chief minister of sabah christina liew has called on the community in her constituency of tawau to avoid from panic buying despite the quick spread of the virus. throughout the first week of the movement control order (mco), a supermarket in papar also reportedly being stormed by shoppers who rush to buy sanitisers. on 16 august, state covid-19 spokesperson masidi manjun announced that sabah's construction, manufacturing, mining and quarry sectors with at least 80% of workers vaccinated would be reallowed to reopen. manjun also announced that companies within these sectors, with 60% to 79% of their manpower vaccinated, would also be allowed to operate at 80% capacity. the reopening of these sectors is part of the second phase of the malaysian government's national recovery plan. repatriation of foreigners on 5 june, national security council sabah director sharifah sitti saleha habib yussof confirmed that 5,300 filipino "illegal immigrants" had been "stranded" at temporary detention centres in sabah after the philippines government refused to repatriate them due to the covid-19 pandemic in that country. since the imposition of a condition movement control order in may, state authorities have repatriated 322 indonesian illegal immigrants via tawau. in late june, national security council sabah director sharifah confirmed that state authorities would be deporting 250 undocumented migrants. the first batch of 134 would be deported on 24 june while the second batch of 133 would be deported on 26 june. repatriation of malaysian nationals on 23 june, bernama and the sun reported that at least twenty malaysians were stranded in indonesia's nunukan regency and unable to return to sabah. the malaysian consulate in pontianak had sent a letter to the sabah government requesting permission for the family to be allowed to return to tawau but had received no response. 2020 sabah state election on 9 august, it was announced that the 2020 sabah state election would be held on 26 september. in response, members of the public and democracy observers urged local authorities to consider postal voting due to the ongoing pandemic and in order to reduce virus transmissions during the election. on 21 august, the high court dismissed an appeal by 33 sabah assemblymen against governor juhar mahiruddin's consent to dissolve the sabah state legislative assembly, paving the way for the state election. on 11 september, the federal court dismissed datuk jahid noordin jahim's appeal to stop the election, allowing nominations to begin the following day. a surge of covid-19 cases nationwide has been linked to the movement of voters and politicians between sabah and peninsular malaysia, with daily reported cases increased to three digit numbers. in response, the federal government on 14 october announced the implementation of a conditional movement control order (cmco) throughout selangor, kuala lumpur, and putrajaya due to the rising number of cases. counter-measures by state government and other parties the state government has released several guidelines to curb the spread of the virus and assured the public that essential goods will be sufficient despite the ongoing increase of infections and panic buying. food security we have to look into food security – agriculture, fisheries, fruits – all of that is needed. the lockdown could be until may, june. even if export is not encouraged, we will need adequate supply. people are losing their jobs, we cannot lose food supply as well. next is to revive the economy. we will be looking into job opportunities. we are also forgoing tax collections in order to lighten the burden on people who are suffering. —sabah chief minister shafie apdal on the sabah plan to boost food production throughout the pandemic, 15 april 2020. due to the pandemic, the sabah state government has been in the process of boosting its food security. this involved a total of 10,000 acres of land in sapi canal of sandakan district and another 200 acres of land in long pasia of sipitang district and another in membakut of beaufort district that were transformed into rice cultivation areas to cut the overdependence of rice supply from thailand and vietnam. the available paddy field in kota belud district is currently not enough to supply the entire state. with the oversupply of fruits and highland vegetables in the state through the ongoing mco, the sabah state government had also decided to export these excess supply to brunei and markets around malaysia which had been facing shortage of supplies and as a method to prevent the produce from going into waste. masks and hand sanitisers on 21 june, chief minister shafie apdal announced that the sabah state government had purchased 15 million face masks and hand sanitisers for people living in the state. 200 schools had also been supplied with face masks and hand sanitisers prior to the planned reopening of schools on 24 june. prevention for immigrations prohibition dated 7 february 2020 issued by the government of sabah. since the earlier several suspected cases in sabah's capital of kota kinabalu, all direct flights between the state with mainland china have been stopped indefinitely. further travel restrictions were imposed by the state government towards the three most affected countries by the virus; comprising iran, italy and south korea by march. in line with the announcement of the mco made by the federal government of malaysia since the growing number of infections within the country, non-sabahans are barred from entering the state with immediate effect as additional efforts to counter the increase in the number of positive cases. sabahan university students in peninsular malaysia with settlement problem during the order period may stay at sabah house, cheras with food provided by the state government. civil servants across the country are exempts from the ban despite each of them still must showing valid confirmation letters that are issued by their heads of departments for each specific task. with the reports that there is another muslim religious gathering to be held at gowa, south sulawesi in neighbouring indonesia, the sabah state government banned the entry of those who attended the gathering. on 27 april 2021, sabah banned nationals from india, france, the united states, africa and brazil from entering the country due to a covid-19 variant said to have originated in india. from 28 april, only sabahans, their spouses and children will be allowed to enter sabah following a 14-day quarantine. movement control order and bans on mass gathering events seats at a bank simpanan nasional (bsn) branch in papar district are vacated with a notice, only three persons are allowed to enter at a time with the public required to wear a surgical mask before entering. annual cultural events in sabah such as the kaamatan (kadazan-dusun festival) and kalimaran (murut festival) have been cancelled, while catholic masses and good friday in the state were observed through a live broadcast online. muslim friday sermons and every congregational prayers had been postponed since march as announced by the sabah fatwa council. the state government also not allowing the usual ramadan bazaars to be operational throughout the pandemic along with the weekly tamu (weekend market) and pasar tani (farmers market) to curb the virus transmission which it will be replaced with digital online bazaar as has been introduced by most states nationwide. international sporting events such as the borneo international marathon scheduled to be held in sabah also have been cancelled. following reports of poor compliance to the mco in the state capital of kota kinabalu, the royal malaysia police (pdrm) has imposed citywide round-the-clock roadblocks aimed at warning obstinate individuals who go against the order until the end of the two week period. with the increasing enforcement being conducted, city folks are getting better at complying the order. the state government also sealed off coronavirus hotspots in major towns such as in several areas in kota kinabalu, sandakan and tawau to minimise movement amid a growing number of cases in these areas including ordering some factories and plantations in kalabakan and lahad datu with detection of cases to cease their operation as well as stopping barter trading between east coast of sabah and the neighbouring philippines and indonesia. despite the second extension of the mco announced on 10 april, the sabah government has give relaxation to palm oil plantations and mills in six eastern sabah districts of kalabakan, kinabatangan, kunak, lahad datu, semporna and tawau to operate under certain conditions that need to be complied. throughout the conditional movement control order, the operations of the state government agencies been resumed from 13 may to 9 june. on 5 october, security minister ismail sabri yaakob announced that the state capital kota kinabalu, penampang, and putatan would be placed under a conditional movement control oder (mco) commencing 7 october. under the conditional mco, travel into these districts will be limited, express and transit buses will not be allowed to operate, and only essential services will be allowed to operate. on 6 october, senior minister ismail announced that the federal government would ban most interstate travel to and from sabah with the exception of emergencies, deaths, and essential services. travel would also be limited to sabah natives, essential workers, civil servants working in sabah, and permanent residents residing in sabah. on 7 may 2021, the sabah state government banned any non-essential inter-district travel for the duration of the conditional movement control order (cmco) between 10 and 16 may. sabah local government and housing minister datuk seri masidi manjun also confirmed that kota kinabalu, putatan and penampang would be considered to be one district for the duration of the cmco. quarantine and treatment centres on 19 march, sabah assistant minister of the local government and the ministry of housing hiew vun zin said that there are a total of nine buildings in the people's housing program (ppr) batu putih in sandakan district, three of which are blocks h, i and g will be serving as isolation centres. each building has 100 units and each unit has 3 bedrooms. as long as they are tested as patients under investigation by the health bureau and duchess of kent hospital, the authorities will send them and their families to the isolation centre for 14 days of isolation. at the time there is more than 30 people were being quarantined at the centre, including six families. the state health department has put a total of 350 beds on standby for coronavirus infected patient. a total of rm2 million had been set by the sabah government for the transformation of likas sports complex into makeshift coronavirus medical facility as a branch of the queen elizabeth hospital from a rm200 million fund allocated for infrastructure development in the state. this includes the upgrading of 39 premises that have been gazetted as quarantine centres for coronavirus and another 13 buildings in the midst of identifying as of april. the hall at the likas sports complex