DAP Calls For Closure Of All Primary Schools In Sarawak

SIBU, March 16 (Bernama) -- The Democratic Action Party (DAP) Thursday asked the Health Ministry and the Education Ministry to close all primary schools in Sarawak from March 20 to 26 to check the spread of the hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) that has taken seven lives in the current outbreak.
Sarawak DAP Chairman Wong Ho Leng said in a statement that many concerned parents had called him to say they were unhappy that the government decided to close only primary one to three classes for that week instead of primary one to six classes.
He described as illogical the reason given by the authorities that children below nine (the age of primary three children) were more susceptible to the disease.
Surveillance data from the Health Department had indicated clearly that HFMD was not confined to children under nine years of age, and that older children were equally susceptible but did not show symptoms, he said.
Wong said even adults could be carriers of the virus and transmit the disease without showing any symptoms.
He also said that primary four to six pupils, because of their school activities, might came into contact with the virus and transmit the disease to younger siblings at home.
"The government should view this endemic very seriously and be more proactive," Wong said.
He said that according to the Health Ministry and based on current data the HFMD in the state was due to the EV71 virus, the type which killed 30 children during the 1997 outbreak in the state.
Apart from the seven deaths, the number of cumulative HFMD cases reported had increased to 4,827 yesterday.