Health Dg 8 000 Tahfiz Students Next Focus For Covid 19 Targeted Testing

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CORONAVIRUS | Over 8,000 tahfiz students from different madrasah nationwide is the Health Ministry's next focus in its Covid-19 targeted testing activities, said Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

The Health Ministry director-general told a press conference today they have so far managed to screen and take samples from 1,736 students who were still at their schools.

"Our target after the Sri Petaling tabligh gathering (cluster) would be students of tahfiz schools. There are 8,816 tahfiz students (who have been identified for tests).

"So far, we have screened 1,736 students at the schools, while many of the others have already gone back to their homes," he said.

According to Noor Hisham, 217 of the students screened have tested positive so far.

This is much higher than the percentage of those tested positive from the tabligh gathering cluster, which was around eight percent
Noor Hisham stressed it is important to test the students and all their close contacts to detect positive cases among them.

"Now, what we need to do is conduct screening and testing on the tahfiz students, with the cooperation of the police and other agencies," he said.

Based on an infographic provided by MOH, health authorities have detected a total of four clusters involving madrasah schools so far.

The four schools are located in Jerantut, Pahang; Penanti, Penang; Sungai Lui, Selangor; and Jasin in Melaka.

It listed the number of positive cases that the authorities traced back to the four clusters, totalling 233 cases including the 217 students.

Meanwhile, on the total number of clusters and sub-clusters in the country, Noor Hisham said it remains at 28.

According to figures provided by him, the Sri Petaling cluster had shown an increase of 20 new positive cases compared to yesterday. The total number of those tested positive from the Sri Petaling cluster is now at 1,924 cases (it was 1,904 yesterday).

A cluster linked to a Bali returnee in Kuantan, Pahang had an additional four new cases, while a Kampung Baru flat in Kuala Lumpur also saw four more people there tested positive with the virus.

On the Sendayan cluster in Negeri Sembilan, Noor Hisham clarified that the total number of cases there are 40, including one person who has died from Covid-19.

He told a press conference yesterday that there was a total of 39 positive cases linked to the cluster.

According to Noor Hisham, the patient who died was a member of one family, which 11 others had also been tested positive. - Mkini

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