No-Visit Outside Sarawak Advice To Children Below 10 Years

KUALA PILAH, March 12 (Bernama) -- Children in Sarawak below 10 years of age are discouraged from visiting or participating in school holiday activities in the peninsula as a precautionary measure to curb the spread of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD).
Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said Sunday the decision was reached after discussions with Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan and Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.
"It is not that we don't want them to participate in sports and other activities in the peninsula, but we feel it is better that they do not come now as a precautionary measure," he said at a news conference after visiting the Kuala Pilah Hospital.
He said the Sarawak government had concurred with the decision.
Meanwhile, the HFMD outbreak in Sarawak has shown the first downtrend in reported cases.
Dr Chan said in SIBU that there were only 137 new cases reported up to 5pm Sunday compared to 285 Saturday.
The death toll in the state remained at six, he told reporters after attending visiting patients at the Sibu General Hospital who included a nine-month-old infant in the Intensive Care Unit.
Chan was accompanied by Sarawak Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh, state Assistant Minister of Housing and Public Health Dr Soon Choon Teck and the hospital's director Dr Abdul Rahim Abdullah.
He said among the new cases, 46 were from Sibu while most of the rest were from Kuching (21), Bintulu (21), Miri (13) and 10 each from Sarikei and Mukah.
The total number since the outbreak two weeks ago stood at 4,121 cases statewide.
Dr Chan said in most of the HFMD deaths, the victims were already critically ill when taken to hospital.
"Those brought in early have a very good chance of recovery," he said.
He denied news reports that claimed the Rajang River in central Sarawak, the longest in the country, was suspected of being the source of the virus that caused the sickness.
"The river is one of the many factors that we include in our still ongoing studies to seek an answer to the virus that caused the sickness. We are in fact also checking 32 other rivers in the state.
"We began our studies nine years ago. We have had some success as in the present outbreak we are able to handle it ourselves instead of asking for foreign help."