KOTA KINABALU: More than 200 drivers were ordered to turn back when they tried to cross district borders while 35 people were issued compounds for inter-district travel without a permit on the first day of Hari Raya Aidilfitri statewide.

State minister in charge of Covid-19 matters in Sabah, Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun (pic), said that 218 drivers were ordered to turn back and 322 inspected in the various roadblocks over the past 24 hours.

“These inspections were made at the 53 roadblocks statewide,” he said.

He added that 35 illegal inter-district travellers were among 65 people compounded for various SOP violations, including not wearing face masks and failure to provide customer registration equipment and register customers upon entry to premises.

Masidi said this when announcing 76 new Covid-19 cases with two deaths and a new cluster in Sabah on Thursday (May 13).

He said the deaths were recorded in Sandakan and Tawau while the new cluster, Kluster Kongsi Lapan, at Kampung 8, Tawau, originated from a 45-year-old woman who tested positive during a screening at the Tawau clinic on May 7.

The woman is believed to have contracted the virus during a terawih prayer session or when distributing Raya goodies during the fasting month.

A total of 56 were tested for Covid-19, out of whom 10 were found positive while 34 are awaiting their results.