Johor Health, Culture and Heritage Committee chairman Mohd Khuzzan Abu Bakar said the decision to close the schools and kindergartens was made by the technical committee set up to study the case.

This will involve Sekolah Agama Taman Mawar (where the incident occurred), Sekolah Kebangsaan Pasir Gudang 4 and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pasir Gudang 2.

The two kindergartens are Tadika Pasti and Tadika Pintar Bestari.

“All these schools and kindergartens are within a radius of 100-800 metres from Sekolah Agama Taman Mawar.

“We are closing them as a precautionary measure because it involves small children,” said Khuzzan.

He said more than 3,000 people, including teachers, were in the schools and kindergartens.

Khuzzan said the radius of the area being monitored by the air quality monitoring team was 1.1km from the scene but they found that the air quality reading in the area was still normal.

“The monitoring will continue until Monday, pending the investigation report on the cause of the incident.

“At noon yesterday, two new victims were reported to have received treatment at the Sultan Ismail Hospital.

“The victims were a male and female student, aged 11, from the religious school but one of them was asthmatic.

“Six more victims admitted to the hospital earlier have been discharged,” he said, adding that no new patients have been admitted as of noon today.