THE Ministry of Health should separate the Covid-19 school clusters from other education clusters so that the people will get the true picture of the pandemic in schools, said Education Minister Radzi Jidin.

According to Radzi, school clusters have been grouped together with higher education, vocational and other educational institutions.

“We have consulted the Ministry of Health to separate the school clusters.

“This is so that the people will get clearer information,” he said at a press conference at the Federal Territories Education Department today.

Radzi said that most of the Covid-19 cases are from communities and education clusters account for only 2%. 

“In the context of cases, more that 60% of the sporadic cases are from the community, while the rest are from clusters. 

“The cases could also be coming from communities and those infected could be getting it from their parents.”

Radzi had said, according to the latest data from the Health Ministry, there are 99 education clusters, of which 52 are in public schools with a cumulative total of 2,274 cases. 

“This is 4.8% of the clusters or 2.07%t of cluster cases.

“Of these cases, 1.42% or 1,559 cases involved residential schools and only 0.53% or 585 cases involved non-boarding schools, not even 1%.”

He also said that if there are cases in the schools then they will conduct mapping to trace the source. 

“Our issue is the hostels. We have to ensure strict SOPs to ensure the students can attend classes safely.” – April 28, 2021.