THE Health Ministry has recommended that the education sector conduct Covid-19 screening on students and staff after 11 of the 18 clusters from March 26 to April 1 were education clusters.

Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a statement today said of the 11, six were found in education institutions under the Education Ministry – three colleges, a religious school, a boarding school and a secondary school.

He said the five remaining clusters were detected at four schools/colleges and one childcare centre not under the Education Ministry.

“The current increase in the number of Covid-19 cases and clusters came about following the start of the school session in mid-March 2023. The increase in cases is also due to active community movements during the last school holiday season,” he said.

He said the education sector is advised to perform screening on symptomatic students and staff before they enter the institution, and conduct RTK-Ag tests on students and staff in accordance with the Covid-19 testing strategy.

He asked parents not to send children to school if they are symptomatic.

Dr Noor Hisham reminded district health officials that Covid-19 cases reported by education institutions must be investigated to identify potential transmission risks, in addition to performing cleaning, disinfecting and contact-tracing exercises.

He said the number of admissions to health facilities per 100,000 residents increased by 24.1% between March 26 and April 1, bringing the cumulative number of cases to 5,052,337 and the number of recoveries to 5,004,546. – Bernama, April 4, 2023.