Any move to close schools will be based on joint assessment, says health minister

Any decision on the closure of schools will be made based on a joint assessment by the district health office, education ministry and state governments, says Health Minister Dr Adham Baba.

He said this would include assessments of cases that involve school staff and students who have to undergo quarantine or home surveillance order after testing positive for Covid-19.

“However, if the cases only involve students and not school staff, the school can remain open,” he told reporters yesterday when asked whether the ministry had proposed that schools be closed due to the spread of Covid-19 there.

This followed the directive by the Kelantan education department that all schools and educational institutions in seven districts placed under movement control order be closed until April 24.

Meanwhile, Adham said a total of 9,916 individuals aged 75 and above are scheduled to receive the Covid-19 vaccine in the second phase of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, which starts today.

They will be inoculated at 30 vaccination centres nationwide: five each in Kedah, Pahang and Penang, four in Sabah, three in Terengganu and Melaka, two in Negeri Sembilan and one each in Perlis, Sarawak and Labuan.