‘Children under 12 vulnerable’

PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry has advised parents to keep children safe in the upcoming Hari Raya break as there are now 317 cases detected in those below the age of 12.

Of the 317 cases, Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 112 cases involved children below four years old.

Another 22 infections were found in babies less than one year old.

“To date, there are no deaths recorded among children under 12 years old,” he said during his daily briefing yesterday.

Dr Noor Hisham said children under the age of 12 in Selangor recorded the highest Covid-19 numbers with 77 cases, followed by Negri Sembilan (48), Johor (46), Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya (28), Sabah (26) and others.

Hence, Dr Noor Hisham said apart from the elderly, children and babies are also in the high-risk groups.

“Children and babies have to be protected to ensure that they are not exposed and be infected with Covid-19,” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said parents and guardians of children should tell youngsters about good hygiene practices such as washing their hands with soap and water.

Children are also encouraged to wear face mask in public areas, he added.

During the press conference, Dr Noor Hisham also noted that the ministry has so far not seen severe cases in children who have the virus in the country.

It is known that the virus affects the lungs, thus resulting in a patient developing pneumonia and blood clots, he said.

In children, he noted that there is a risk of them developing the Kawasaki syndrome, where there is an inflammation of the blood vessels.

“These are the symptoms that they can have. The symptoms start with fever and then inflammation of the blood vessels,” he said.

There have been foreign news reports about a rare and severe inflammatory syndrome, like the Kawasaki disease, that have been detected in children.

The Kawasaki disease is an inflammatory disorder that causes blood vessels to become inflamed.

“We hope we can continue to make sure that we can give good quality care to our children once they have been diagnosed as Covid-19 positive,” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham also reminded families to bathe or at least wash their hands first before touching their children when they get home.

“This is because we are exposed to the virus that is in the community. Every time we go home, we are bringing the virus along and through that we can infect the elderly and children,” he said.

With the festive holiday around the corner, Dr Noor Hisham urged the public to comply with the standard operating procedure that has been provided by the ministry to ensure that children and families stay safe from the virus.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said there were 17 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 6,872.

Out of the 17 new cases, he said six were imported while 11 were local transmission.

Five of the 17 infections were detected among foreigners.

Dr Noor Hisham also said that 73 patients were discharged in the same 24-hour span.

He said this meant that 5,512 patients had recovered from Covid-19 in Malaysia since the outbreak began.

“There are 13 positive Covid-19 cases who are being treated in the intensive care unit and, of that total, five need ventilator support,” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham also said that one death was recorded, bringing the death toll to 113.

Separately, Dr Noor Hisham said more than 750 parliament staff as well as MPs have been screened for the virus.

Up till now, none of them had been found to be infected.