Schoolboy is index case of new Covid-19 cluster involving only children

 

A 13-year-old boy is the index case in a Covid-19 cluster exclusively made up of children.

According to the Ministry of Health, the index case for the Hampar cluster, Case 23,736, was screened because he was displaying symptoms. He tested positive on Oct 21.

Four other children deemed by the ministry to be his “social contacts” were found to be Covid-19 positive on today.

The cluster was announced to be in Rembau, Negeri Sembilan.

Although the exact location was not announced, it is believed to be linked to the closure of SMK Dato’ Undang Haji Adnan in the town of Kota, Rembau district.

On Oct 22, the school management confirmed with Malaysiakini the school would close from Oct 22 to Oct 29 after a student tested positive the day before.

All students who are staying in the dormitories are to return home, except those who are from out of state or from red zone districts.

A Flourish chart

The Hampar cluster comes as the ministry announced more than 1,000 schoolchildren had been infected since the start of the third wave on Sept 20.

Some 70 percent of all primary school students infected since the start of the pandemic contracted the virus in the third wave.

This is likely because schools were closed for the greater part of the earlier waves.

Long-term impact on children still largely unknown

Negri Sembilan recently also recorded another school cluster - the Sofi cluster - detected at Sekolah Tinggi Islam As-Sofa in Seremban.

The index case is a 16-year-old student at the residential school who was detected after he felt ill on Oct 20.

The cluster now has 102 cases, including other school children.

According to the Education Ministry’s policy, schools, where Covid-19 cases are detected, are to close for one week for disinfection and contact tracing.

Schools in red zone districts - districts where more than 40 cases are detected in the span of two weeks - are also ordered to close.

Since Oct 8, more than 70 schools nationwide have reported cases involving students or staff.

Although infected children have mostly been asymptomatic or have only light symptoms, the long-term impact on the recovered patients is still unknown.

There have been recorded incidents where children who have recovered continue to display conditions like prolonged coughing, or intermittent fever and body aches months after they are deemed to have recovered from Covid-19.

Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the ministry is closely studying discharged patients and checks in with them every three months to record any returning symptoms and other ailments.

He said the among conditions the ministry checks for are pulmonary fibrosis, amnesia and lethargy, but most who were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms have recovered well.

“We are following up with our patients closely on whether we can record these long-term complications,” he said.  - Mkini