THE Health Ministry will recommend a longer closure for the education sector until the end of the month to curb new Covid-19 infections, said Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah. 

The director-general of health, however, did not specify if this proposal would cover schools and higher learning institutions.  

“We will recommend prolonging the holidays until the end of the month to ensure students stay at home and curb the Covid-19 transmission,” he said at a press conference in Putrajaya today. 

“Another worry for the ministry is that there will be social gatherings or relatives visiting during the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations. 

“Hence, this (proposal) will be presented to the National Security Council.”

New infections spiked in the last few months, and many new clusters involved education institutions, including schools.

Malaysia today reported its second straight day of new cases exceeding 4,000, after weeks of daily infections in the 2,000s and 3,000s.

Noor Hisham also warned that daily cases could reach 7,000 by the end of May or early June, if people did not follow measures to curb the spread of the virus.

Last month, the Education Ministry announced its plan to impose a two-day closure whenever Covid-19 cases are detected in schools.

The two days are for health authorities to conduct risk assessments, trace close contacts and sanitise the premises, with the decision to reopen schools made by the district health office.

The ministry subsequently announced that all schools would close for a further two weeks after Hari Raya to prevent the possibility of more virus transmissions, with students to do online and home-based learning instead.

Education Minister Mohd Radzi Md Jidin said all primary and secondary schools nationwide will return to the home-based teaching and learning method (PdPR) when lessons resume after the Hari Raya holiday.

This means that all schools in the country will conduct PdPR for 10 days until the start of mid-year school break, which will start on May 28 for schools in Johor, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, and May 29 for other states. – May 8, 2021.