Another Primary School Ordered Close, Bringing Total To 32

KUCHING, March 23 (Bernama) -- Another primary school in Bintulu has been ordered closed for two weeks after health teams confirmed eight suspected cases of the Hand, foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) during a screening exercise, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan said Thursday.
Dr Chan, who is also Sarawak Disaster and Relief Management Committee chairman, said the latest closure brought to 32 the number of affected schools instructed to close by the State Health Department.
"However, the number of new reported HFMD cases has declined to 162 over the last 24 hours from 232 previously, bringing the total number of children infected to 6,044, since the outbreak was detected in Sibu last month," he said on the daily HFMD updates here.
In the 24 hours, Miri and Sarikei divisions had the highest number of new cases, with 26 each, followed by Sibu (34), Kuching (22), Mukah (14) and Bintulu (13).
Although 34 new admissions were reported in various hospitals throughout Sarawak, he said, no child had been reported critically ill or had been admitted to the intensive care unit.
The cumulative admissions so far were 975.
HFMD patients still in the ward had also dropped to 79 from 87 in the last 24 hours, he said.
Since last Thursday, the death toll had remained at eight, including two cases confirmed to be Enterovirus 71 (EV71) positive while the department would be conducting further tests on the remaining ones to determine the actual cause.