Itchy and scratchy: More people are getting sore throat following an increase in influenza cases. — ZHAFARAN NASIB/The Star
SHAH ALAM: The Selangor Health Department announced that one influenza-like-illness (ILI) cluster has been detected in the state last Tuesday (June 14) involving a boarding secondary school in the Petaling district.
State Health director Datuk Dr Sha'ari Ngadiman said the cluster was detected when the district health office was notified that 110 students were down with fever, cough, flu, and sore throat and the first case was identified as being symptomatic since June 14.
He said, as of Thursday (June 23), the number of students showing similar symptoms had increased to 191, giving an infection rate of 32.5 per cent.
Of the total, five were confirmed positive for Influenza A, while 13 other samples were awaiting results.
"One case is in hospital for observation and in stable condition. The results of Covid-19 tests conducted on 30 symptomatic students all came back negative,” he said in a statement here on Friday (June 24).
Dr Sha'ari said the school’s hostel had also been temporarily closed for sanitisation to curb the infection.
The hostel will reopen after the Petaling district health office carries out its risk assessment to ensure the safety of the students, he said.
On Tuesday (June 21), an influenza-like illness cluster was detected at a residential school in Gombak district.
Investigations had showed that overall, 226 students had symptoms of respiratory tract infections like fever, cough, flu and sore throat, with six of them confirmed positive for Influenza A, giving an infection rate of 32.7%.
Meanwhile, he said the overall ILI situation in the state is still under control, but the infection rates in education institutions, especially boarding schools, had shown a slight increase over the past two weeks.
"Among the factors that contributed to the increase are the lack of gate-keeping screening at schools, an increase in group activities, physical contact among students and poor personal hygiene,” he said.
As such, Dr Sha’ari called on the public including administrators of educational institutions and care centres to always practice self-control.
"The Health Department will continue to monitor the ILI situation and trends in Selangor and work closely with the relevant parties to ensure all disease control and prevention measures are carried out properly,” he added.- Bernama
