SABAH POLLS | BN's Pitas candidate Sufian Abd Karim has tested positive for Covid-19.
Despite this, he called on party supporters to keep their spirits high during the Sabah state election as he apologised for any inconvenience caused by his infection with the novel coronavirus.
"I, Sufian Abd Karim (above), the BN candidate for N03 Pitas have just gotten the test result for Covid-19 and have been confirmed positive.
"Apologies for all the difficulties. May it not break our spirits in this struggle," he said in a Facebook post today.
Sufian went on to urge all those who had close contact with him to get tested.
Read more: The who's who is the Sabah 2020 election
He also apologised to all the voters, staff, party machinery, friends and relatives who helped him throughout the campaign period.
"Pray that I will be given the strength to face this challenge and be given immediate healing," he added.
Among the Umno leaders who were spotted campaigning alongside Sufian include party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, Sabah Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin, Johor Menteri Besar Hasni Mohammad and Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki.
Hishamuddin, Bung and Zahid were seen wearing masks while with Sufian, but others were not wearing them.
Asyraf had also joined Sufian for a round of football with locals.
Apart from that, the candidate was seen in his campaign pictures visiting the homes of locals with his mask lowered and shaking hands with constituents.
Read more: Sabah Decides 2020: Making sense of the players, parties and battles
Aside from Sufian, Umno supreme council member Mohd Razlan Rafii and the party's information chief Shahril Hamdan have also tested positive for Covid-19 after campaigning in Sabah recently.
Zahid, Asyraf quarantined
Zahid shared that he was presently under home quarantine.
Taking to Facebook, he said he was monitoring the election results via video conferencing from home.
Asyraf told Malaysiakini that he was also under home quarantine in Kuala Lumpur and had so far tested negative for Covid-19.
“I have done two Covid-19 tests and thank God both were negative.
“(On) Monday I have to undergo another one,” he said when contacted.
He also confirmed that he had been identified as a close contact of both Sufian and Razlan.
Like Zahid, Asyraf said he was monitoring the election from home and urged the Umno Youth machinery to mobilise more young voters to hit the ballot boxes.
Additional reporting by Annabelle Lee.
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