Nine More Kindergartens In Sarawak Ordered Closed

KUCHING, March 2 (Bernama) -- Nine more kindergartens in Sarawak have been ordered to close temporarily as a preventive measure to avert the spread of the hand, foot and mouth (HFM) disease in the state.
Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan said Thursday that this brought to 10 the number of kindergartens that had been ordered closed, including one that was closed last week.
"As of now, there are a total of six kindergartens in Kuching and four in Bintulu that have been asked to closed," he told reporters after launching the RM10 million Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (Sains) Data Centre here.
Dr Chan said that yesterday, a one-year-old baby from Mukah was confirmed dead with symptoms related to the deadly Enterovirus 71 (EV71), one of the virus strains related to the HFM that killed 29 children below five years old in Sarawak in 1997.
Without revealing the gender of the baby, he said the Sarawak Health Department was doing laboratory tests to confirm the exact cause of death, whether it was due to EV71 or other HFM virus strains.
Dr Chan said four deaths had been recorded since January this year, including the latest case in Mukah yesterday, with one death confirmed to be due to EV71 while the other two were confirmed to be due to HFM-related disease but without the presence of EV71.
He said all the HFM cases in Sarawak were in the town areas.
He assured the public that the Sarawak Health Department had the capability to handle HFM disease based on the 1997 experience.
On the centre, Dr Chan, who is also the chairman, said it was the first of its kind in the state offering information communication technology (ICT) infrastructure outsourcing services to the public and private sectors.
Information on Sains, the ICT arm of the state government, can be found at www.sains.com.my