Parents, load up on your child’s COVID-19 emergency pack items – wet wipes, sanitisers, tissues and extra face masks, as the numbers in schools continue to rise.
A total of 464 people comprising teachers, schoolchildren and school staff in Kelantan have been tested positive for COVID-19, as reported today.
Kelantan Health Director, Datuk Dr Zaini Hussin said they were detected in a series of screening tests conducted between April 3 and 16.
Based on our studies, the pandemic can easily spread in schools from the hostels and also because failure to follow the standard operating procedures (SOP) properly.
On the current situation in the state, Dr Zaini said the department projected COVID-19 cases to reach between 200 and 300 cases daily this week.
Seven of the 10 districts in Kelantan were placed under Movement Control Order (MCO) recently following a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Following this, all schools under the seven districts were ordered to close beginning last Sunday until April 24.
While the numbers in most areas within the Klang Valley are not as high, let us not let our guard down.
The Petaling District Numbers
Yesterday, 19 schools in the Petaling district have been ordered to be temporarily closed from tomorrow for disinfection and close contact tracing of both students and teaches, after several COVID-19 cases were detected.
The Petaling District Health Office said COVID-19 clusters were found in these school, thus necessitating their closure. Reopening of the schools will be announced two days prior.
The affected schools include SMK Puchong Utama 1 and SAM Bestari Subang, which had four positive cases each. SK USJ 20 and SMK USJ 23 reported two cases each. The other 15 schools had one case each.
In its daily COVID-19 update yesterday, the Ministry of Health announced six clusters involving education centres.
The education centre clusters were Tangok (Kelantan), Pulai Chondong (Kelantan), Jalan Tagasan (Sabah), Jalan Medan Aliff (Johor), Jalan Weng (Kedah) and one from a school/education institution in Jalan Hospital (Kelantan).
So, advise your kids to be mindful of their social distance, not to share food and not to reuse face masks which have fallen to the ground.