Health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said some students and staff were staying at the school, although it had been closed.

“We have identified six cases from the school. We have screened over 50% of the staff and students there. The school is currently under the enhanced movement control order,” he said.

The school would be managed in a similar way as with a tahfiz school in Sungai Lui, Selangor.

He did not state how long the lockdown would last.

Defence minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob previously said the EMCO for the Sungai Lui tahfiz school, Maahad Tahfiz An Nabawiyyah, and a house in Sungai Lui, Hulu Langat will be extended to May 5.

However the enhanced movement control order (EMCO) for its surrounding village was lifted on April 14.

Noor Hisham said that those individuals who have close contact with the six cases in the Lanchang tahfiz school will be placed under quarantine.

The tahfiz school in Pahang is the eight location in Malaysia to be placed in lockdown.

Other locations include Selayang Baru, Selayang wholesale market, the surrounding area of Jalan Masjid India, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Selangor Mansion, Malayan Mansion and Menara City One in Kuala Lumpur as well as villages in Sungai Lui, Hulu Selangor and Simpang Renggam, Johor.

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