Parents, School Bus Drivers, Teachers To Help Check Spread Of HFMD

KUCHING, March 21 (Bernama) -- Although there was a drop in the number of cases of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) during the weeklong school holidays last week, some people continued to take the disease lightly, Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan said Tuesday.
Dr Chan, who is chairman of the State Disaster Management and Aid Committee, said eight more primary schools here have been ordered to close for two weeks from Monday after pupils with symptoms of HFMD were allowed to attend school by their parents.
"We hope that the parents, school bus drivers and teachers will inspect the hands, feet and mouth of the pupils before allowing them into the class to join the healthy children," he told reporters here.
If they showed HFMD symptoms, these children should be isolated immediately, he added.
Dr Chan said that of the eight primary schools that were ordered to close for two weeks from yesterday, four were in the Sri Aman Division, three in Mukah and one in Sarikei.
He said that as at 10 am Tuesday, 188 new cases of the disease were reported compared with only 121 cases Monday, bringing the total so far to 5,812 cases since the outbreak last month. Eight children have died.
He also said that 96 HFMD patients were receiving treatment in five hospitals in Sarawak, and a 21-month-old toddler among them was in the Intensive Care Unit of the Sibu Hospital.