KUALA LUMPUR: The education sector should start conducting screening on students, teachers and staffers as 11 of the 18 latest Covid-19 clusters reported were education-related clusters, says the Health Ministry.
The recommendation came following data revealed in the seventh epidemiological week 2023 from March 26 to April 1.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a statement yesterday said of the total, six clusters involved educational institutions under the Education Ministry (MOE) involving three colleges, a religious school, a boarding school and a secondary school.
He said the five other clusters involved four non-MOE schools and colleges and one childcare centre, Bernama reported.
“The current increase in the number of Covid-19 cases and clusters came about following the re-opening of the school session in mid-March 2023. The increase in cases is also due to active community movements during the last school holiday season,” he said.
As such, he said the education sector is advised to perform screening on symptomatic students, teachers and staffers before entering the premises and conduct RTK-Ag tests on students, teachers and staff in accordance with the Covid-19 testing strategy.
In addition, he said parents also need not send their children to school if symptomatic.
On the development of Covid-19 cases, Dr Noor Hisham said the number of patient admissions to health facilities per 100,000 residents increased by 24.1% compared to the last epidemiological week bringing the cumulative number of new cases to 5,052,337 and the number of recoveries to 5,004,546.cases.
