In Johor, 10 religious schools and 17 primary, secondary and vernacular schools had to be closed after positive cases were detected among staff, pupils and students.
State education, information, heritage and culture committee chairman Mazlan Bujang said all 17 schools under the education ministry had been closed in stages over the past three days.
“The one-week closure is to allow all quarters involved to undergo Covid-19 screening and to give way for the sanitisation process.
“The public doesn’t have to worry because the situation is under control,” he told Bernama today.
He said this in response to a list of 29 schools that has gone viral on social media for allegedly recording new Covid-19 cases.
Meanwhile, state Islamic religious affairs committee chairman Tosrin Jarvanthi said the religious schools involved were from four districts, namely Johor Bahru, Kulai, Kota Tinggi and Mersing. They will be closed for four to 11 days.
“In Johor Bahru, it involves Sekolah Agama Tambatan Tinggi; Kota Tinggi (SA Taman Sri Saujana); Kulai (SA Taman Kota Kulai 2 and SA Taman Muhibah) and Mersing (SA Teriang, SA Tan Sri Abd Kadir, SA Bandar Endau, SA Semanyir, SA Belukar Juling and SA Pusat Air Tawar),” he said.
Last Monday, state health and environment Committee chairman R Vidyananthan said 159 students from five schools in Johor Bahru have been ordered to undergo Covid-19 screening at the one-stop Covid-19 assessment centre in Pasir Gudang and Bukit Indah.
He said this became necessary to prevent further transmission of the virus in schools.
In Kota Kinabalu, the Khidmat cluster involving Sekolah Menengah Agama Kota Kinabalu became the main contributor to the spike with 172 infections in Sabah over the past 24 hours.
Local government and housing minister Masidi Manjun said Kota Kinabalu topped the list with 82 cases followed by Tawau (42) and Lahad Datu (15), among others.
“A total of 72 infections came from that one school,” he said, in his daily Covid-19 briefing today.
“The school is already under an enhanced movement control order.”
The cases today was a sharp increase from the 82 infections detected in Sabah yesterday.
CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST DATA ON THE COVID-19 SITUATION IN MALAYSIA