Kelantan health director Dr Zaini Hussin said the cluster involving the students was declared as the Embi Telipot cluster on Jan 14.

“Based on investigations, a total of 256 close contacts have been identified so far. All of them have been instructed to undergo quarantine. Those experiencing any symptoms during this period have been advised to go for Covid-19 screening,” he said, according to a report by Utusan Malaysia.

Zaini said the Kota Bharu health office has suggested that the school’s face-to-face teaching and learning process be postponed from today until Jan 25.

Commenting on rumours that the case was caused by a student whose parents had just returned from the umrah and were confirmed to be infected with the Omicron variant, he said they were not true.

He said there was no evidence that the sample from the parents was of the Omicron variant but further investigations to trace the origin of the cases were being carried out.

“People are advised not to spread false messages because it can cause concern to parents and the community,” he said.

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