SARAWAK’s university and secondary school students, who were barred from leaving campus and their boarding homes, have been given permission to leave for home as the two-week closure had stretched to mid-June.

Universities and all educational institutions in Sarawak’s Covid-19 red zones were ordered close for two weeks to stem the spread of the virus on April 20.

They were to return to class on May 3 but Education Minister Radzi Jidin on Tuesday announced that schools will remain shut until June 13.

The state disaster management committee, chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah, also said students could leave for home without the need to be screened and take the polymerase chain reaction Covid-19 test.

One thousand and nine schools – 863 primary and 146 secondary – involving 372, 433 students and 30,435 teachers in the state’s 21 red-zone districts were affected by the April 20 shutdown.

The committee said today, two more secondary schools have been found to have infected students. One school is in Kuching and the other in Miri.

The two school clusters are of the six reported in the state today.

In the Tabuan Jaya cluster at SMK Tabuan Jaya, 22 staff and student boarders tested positive from an infection spread by a 16 year-old student who tested positive on April 16.

The student is believed to have contracted the virus from his travel to Sri Aman before returning to his dormitory on April 5.

In the outbreak at the Miri Science Secondary School in Bakam, 17 students tested positive from an infection reportedly from a 15 year-old who tested positive on April 19.

The spread in the Sains Bakam cluster escalated during a gotong-royong on April 5. The infected student had also attended a terawih prayer.

The committee said 464 individuals were tested with 373 negative for the virus and another 74 still waiting for their results.

The other clusters are the Taman Pelita community cluster in Kuching where six people tested positive after attending a funeral on April 14, the Tabuan Melayu cluster also in Kuching (five cases), Durin in Bau (6) and Sileng Dayak in Lundu (72).

There were 522 new cases reported in the state today – 77% of the cases from five districts – Bintulu (140), Sibu (96), Miri (69), Kuching (58) and Kanowit (40). – April 29, 2021.