As more Covid-19 infections are detected in schools, opposition MP William Leong has urged Putrajaya to publish “complete” details of such cases.
This was so that school officials, parents and students could make informed decisions, he said.
The Selayang lawmaker from PKR contended it was “wholly irresponsible” for the government to “withhold” the information from the public.
“It is the government’s duty and obligation to provide full and complete disclosure of all material facts on the Covid-19 positive cases in the schools.
“This is to enable the parents, teachers, staff and students to make a fully informed decision whether to run the risk of infection. Only they can make such a decision, not the government,” he said in a statement today.
“I call on the prime minister (Muhyiddin Yassin) to make immediate announcements and provide complete information to the parents, students, teachers and staff of (the) Covid-19 cases of the schools concerned,” he added.
Leong’s call echoes that of former deputy education minister Teo Nie Ching, who previously urged the Education Ministry to provide daily updates on cases at schools.
Yesterday, Health Minister Dr Adham Baba disclosed that a whopping 4,868 Covid-19 cases from the education sector were detected between Jan 1 and April 20 this year. The sector also saw 83 clusters over the same period, of which 49 remain active clusters.
This included infections from public education institutions, higher education institutions and “other” educational institutions.
Adham did not disclose beyond these general statistics.
On Tuesday this week, 19 schools in the Petaling district in Selangor were instructed to close after a cluster was detected.
More than half of the Covid-19 cases detected in Kelantan recently were secondary students. The rest included primary school pupils, teachers and school staff.
Yesterday, two schools were among the 11 new infection clusters.
Under a new Education Ministry directive, any school with one Covid-19 case or more will be closed for two days.
District health officers are to decide if and when the schools can reopen. - Mkini
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