THE Malaysian Islamic Development Department has written to private tahfiz schools urging their teachers, employees and students to come forward for Covid-19 testing.

Director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said this had to be done as about 1,000 private tahfiz schools have yet to be screened.

He said all the ministry could do was to plead with them.

“The Health Ministry is pleading with them to come forward to be screened and tested. That is all we can advise them,” he told the daily press conference on Covid-19 today.

Around 45% of all Covid-19 cases in Malaysia come from the tabligh cluster, which began with an event held at the Sri Petaling mosque in late February.

As of today, only 370 tahfiz schools and madrasah have been screened. Some 14,293 samples have been taken from pupils, teachers and workers.

Of this, 659 tested positive. – May 19, 2020.