THE government should only release university students currently stuck on their campuses due to the movement-control order (MCO) in controlled fashion, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said.

The director-general of health said the return must be carried out on a scheduled basis so as to avoid crowding.

“We do know some of our students have been at their universities for the last four weeks.

“What is important is there is scheduled planning for them to go back to their hometowns,” he said at the daily press conference on Covid-19.

No clusters of infection has been detected among students on campus.

However, Dr Noor Hisham said the country must not make the “same mistake“ of allowing them to rush home.

The MCO, which began on March 18, saw thousands of people rushing to bus and train terminals the evening before in attempts to get home.

Back then, there were multiple changes in the instructions given to university and college students on whether they should remain on campus or not, resulting in the mass exodus.

Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said earlier today the government is working on a plan to allow 100,000 university students confined to the campuses to go home safely.

The National Security Council spokesman, who is also the defence minister, said discussions were ongoing between the security, health and education authorities to plot the students’ return to their respective hometowns while the movement-control order (MCO) is in force.

The students were ordered to stay on campus when the MCO was enforced on March 18.

“They have been on campus for more than 28 days, or twice the 14-day incubation period (of the Covid-19 virus).  So there is the possibility they can go home,” he said. – April 21, 2020.