MORE than 600 Islamic school students in Indonesia have tested positive for the coronavirus, said a Health Ministry official, marking the latest outbreak as classrooms reopen across the country.

The Darussalam Blokagung boarding school in East Java’s Banyuwangi regency has initiated a two-week quarantine of some 6,000 students after at least 664 were infected.

Most of the cases involve mild or no symptoms, but local police and the military have blocked access to the school.

“All activities must be halted,” said ministry spokesman Benget Saragih yesterday.

“Mass prayer has been temporarily stopped, and all students must stay in their rooms.”

Mass testing has been carried out from the middle of last month after some students complained of feeling unwell, said the school.

There are thousands of religious boarding schools across Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation.

The infections come after nearly 1,300 people at a military academy tested positive for the virus in July.

The country of nearly 270 million has since seen smaller outbreaks nationwide as schools reopen following a months-long closure.

Today, Indonesia reported more than 3,000 new Covid-19 cases, bringing its tally beyond 180,000, with 7,616 deaths.

But with the country’s testing rate among the lowest in the world, the true scale of the crisis is widely believed to be much greater. – AFP, September 2, 2020.