Many parents have expressed worry about schools remaining open despite the high number of COVID-19 cases of late.
Now, Deputy Education Minister Dr Mah Hang Soon has assured that any school with confirmed COVID-19 case will be closed for at least two days, even if it is over a single infection.
The minister was quoted telling Sin Chew Daily that the decision was made following a meeting among ministry officials recently.
In such instance of closure, the affected students would have to take online lessons for the number of days the school remains closed, he added.
At the same time, Health officials will inspect the school and conduct risk assessments before deciding whether it is safe for the school to reopen, or to extend the closure beyond the two days.
Education Minister Dr Adham Baba recently revealed that until Apr 20, there have been 83 COVID-19 clusters linked to the education sector, involving 4,686 cases.
In Petaling Jaya alone, 19 schools have been ordered close after the outbreak of cases.
The rate of closures have caused concern among many parents, who have either stopped sending their children to school, or are questioning if an outbreak is needed before their children's schools are closed, and lessons from home are resumed.
Malaysia has been consistently recording over 2,000 new COVID-19 cases for more than a week, in what certain experts have dubbed is the fourth wave of the pandemic in the country.
As of yesterday, a total of 381,813 people in the country have caught the virus, while 1,400 people have died from it.
The global COVID-19 infection and death currently stands at 144 million and three million, respectively.
Source: Sin Chew Daily
Photo source: Malay Mail
Shuman
Thu Apr 22 2021