MORE than 6,700 cases of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) have been reported in Selangor, with the weekly number of infections exceeding the warning level as of May 7, state health director Dr Sha’ari Ngadiman said.

He said 4% of the 6,748 cases were admitted to hospital for monitoring while the rest received outpatient treatment.

“A total of 118 HFMD clusters have been reported with 95% involving nurseries, kindergartens and childcare centres. No deaths have been reported,” he said in a statement posted on the Selangor Health Department’s official Facebook today.

Sha’ari said the rising trend of the disease in the state is seen mainly among children under seven years since the beginning of this year.

He said 33% of the cases were due to the Coxsackie virus A16 (CA16) and 22% from the Enterovirus 71 (EV71) whereas the rest were from other viruses.

He said from the 18th Epidemiology Week this year, 525 cases have been reported, However, this is a drop of 40% compared with the previous epidemiology week.

“The decrease is believed to be due to the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays as most of the childcare centres and educational institutions were closed. Also, there were no HFMD clusters reported during the same period,” he added. – Bernama, May 13, 2022.