Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said of the total, Sarawak recorded 6,209 cases, or 12.1%, as of Aug 14.

“A majority of the cases were reported in Bandar Kuching, with 1,387 cases or 22.3% between Jan 1 and Aug 14.

“One death was reported in Sarawak, involving a 27-month old toddler from Mukah, on July 28,” he said during the ministerial question time in the Dewan Rakyat.

Dzulkefly (PH-Kuala Selangor) was replying to a question from Kelvin Yii (PH-Bandar Kuching) on the number of HFMD cases in Sarawak and preventive measures taken, including the criteria used to evaluate whether a nursery or kindergarten needed to be shut down.

To the second question, Dzulkefly said the shutting down of any nursery, kindergarten, daycare centre or pre-school would be done in the event of a HFMD outbreak, with outbreak defined as two or more cases.

“The premises will be closed for 10 days from the day the last HFMD case was detected. This is aimed at preventing the spread of the disease to other children, and to enable the operators to clean up their premises,” he added.