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KUALA LUMPUR – Despite recent reassurance by Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali, who said that the Covid-19 spike at the Perak Matriculation College is under control, students there hold an opposing view, with some taking to Twitter to complain of new cases.
Among the students is a source who spoke to The Vibes under the condition of anonymity, claiming that students have not been given the latest information regarding newly detected positive cases, or any response from the administration when they ask about the issue.
“Most of the students are not aware of this because the student affairs department did not make an announcement or inform us on this matter,” the source said, adding that the administration has been silent despite students requesting for updates on the number of positive cases daily.
She alleged that the college has detected new cases as of February 20 and there are now close to 200 infected among the student population, while the deputy minister’s statement was made on February 21.
She also said that students were required to attend face-to-face classes and were not given a choice to attend it online.
However, another student, @nrsyfqhtrmz_, shared a Telegram screenshot on Twitter of her lecturer allowing her class to be held online if her students feared attending physical classes, provided they inform the faculty beforehand.
kmpp:ada kes covid,tutup kolej
— piqah (@nrsyfqhtrmz_) February 17, 2022
kmpk:ada kes covid, class f2f ?? pic.twitter.com/31hVU2Xqa1
The anonymous lass said that for safety purposes, some students had proposed for Covid-19 self-testing to be done prior to attending face-to-face classes, worried about students who show up with no symptoms but are positive.
“Even so, the management denied the suggestion and gave justification that the local Health Department stated there is no need for a Covid-19 self-test kit to be done before classes commence,” she added.
A second anonymous source, who was confirmed as Covid-19 positive on February 21, said that the surge in Covid-19 cases started after a female student who celebrated Chinese New Year contracted the virus from a family member and was the index case at the college.
This source began experiencing symptoms such as headache, sore throat, diarrhoea, and sore muscles on that day.
“After taking a saliva test in the evening, I was told by the person in charge to pack my bags and head to the quarantine house where I have to undergo quarantine for seven days.
“I think there are approximately 15 students in the quarantine house while other students are stationed in either the other three quarantine houses, the exam room or the guest house,” adding that students have been given a sufficient amount of medicine, food and water for recovery.
Meanwhile, Twitter user @lluqqmann called out Dr Noor Azmi and asked, “How can you say there are no cases when a student was just declared positive earlier?
Weh korang kmpk dah mmg chaos gila sekarang ni. News ni mmg auta. Macam mana laa boleh cakap takde kes padahal baru tadi ada orang positive. Then salahkan student sebb balik dari cuti cny !!?. And tak sangka ada lecturer yang ugut nak saman student. https://t.co/zceWEkN0ZO
— Luq?? (@lluqqmann) February 21, 2022
“Then you blame students for going home during Chinese New Year holidays? And I did not expect there would be a lecturer who would threaten to issue students a fine.”
Similarly, Twitter user @zavpfkz pointed out that his own friends were said to be positive last Sunday and the news circulating around was misleading.
“As one of KMPk’s students, I can say that we still have new cases in KMPk.
as one of KMPk’s student i can say that we still have new cases in KMPk. 3 of my friends are positive covid-19 yesterday (20 February 2022). this is why online information can be deceitful and unreliable https://t.co/j4bCKp5m8K
— zen (@zavpfkz) February 21, 2022
“Three of my friends were Covid-19 positive yesterday (20 February 2022).”
Other users include @HanHan______ who shared her fellow students’ view that there are still fresh cases at their college, and @sinrbayu who outright claimed that the deputy minister’s statement is nothing more than “fake news”.
memandai je takde kes baru, hari hari ada kes baru kat kmpk ni ha ? pic.twitter.com/iXJypAnD2J
— pah ?? (@HanHan______) February 21, 2022
this is fake news you know wjat every single day, non stop ye student infected by covid-19 but youre still deniable the number of cases happened. This is funny why youre trying to gaslight everything happened in KMPk https://t.co/NfxWFekG7I
— Leo (@sinrbayu) February 21, 2022
The Vibes has tried to get a response from the college administration. However, they were unable to make any comment regarding the claims as any official statement must come from the Health Ministry.
Efforts to contact the local district health office were also met with silence. – The Vibes, February 24, 2022
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