SABAH POLLS | Covid-19 has put the brakes on campaigning for three Sabah election candidates after they came in contact with an Umno leader who tested positive for the virus.  

They are Umno's Lumadan candidate Kamarlin Ombi and Sindumin candidate Sani Miasin as well as Warisan's Sindumin candidate Dr Yusof Yacob, who is also the incumbent state education and innovation minister.

They had come in contact with Umno supreme council member Mohd Razlan Rafii.

When contacted, Kamarlin confirmed to Malaysiakini that they have been quarantined.

Kamarlin said Razlan had been assigned to campaign in Sindumin and therefore had come in contact with both the Umno and Warisan candidates.

"He is not in charge of my area, he is in charge of Sindumin, that is why he met with Sani and Yusof.

"I'm contesting in Lumadan but I came in contact with him on nomination day," he added. 

Kamarlin said he had eaten with Razlan and that other top Umno leaders were not present at the time.

He and the other candidates must now undergo a 14-day quarantine.

However, Kamarlin said he is not too concerned that it will hurt his campaign as he had been serving the people for a long term.

"I have been the assemblyperson for two terms. The people already know me.

"So we have been ready from the beginning... I have done my best in Lumadan," said the Sipitang Umno division chief.

Read more: Sabah Decides 2020: Making sense of the players, parties and battles

Kamarlin is being challenged by eight other candidates, including Warisan's Ag Ku Zaidi Pg Wahab and his own coalition ally, PBS' Ruslan Muharam.

In Sindumin, Yusof is the incumbent while Sani is his main challenger.

Razlan was first reported to be positive with Covid-19 on Sept 20.

At the time, Razlan said the Covid-19 positive result was from a rapid test kit (RTK) and he was getting a Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test, which is more accurate, for confirmation. 

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, when contacted, told Malaysiakini that Razlan was confirmed positive on his second test.

"He is now being quarantined at Kota Kinabalu hospital. Everything else is proceeding as usual," he said.

Earlier today, another Umno leader Shahril Hamdan, who is the party's deputy youth chief, also tested positive for Covid-19 after returning to the Klang Valley. He had been campaigning in Sabah. 

Sabah has seen a spike in Covid-19 cases in the last month. As of yesterday, it has 625 active cases, mostly in Tawau (435 cases), Lahad Datu (91), and Semporna (47). 

Follow Malaysiakini's coverage of the Sabah state election here.