KUALA LUMPUR – Students may have to again put on masks when schools reopen on May 2 as Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa moves to contain the spread of Covid-19, especially with the new Arcturus subvariant.
She said a meeting will be held this week with Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek to discuss the Health Ministry’s proposal as new guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOP) will need to be issued before the schools reopen.
“This is important. If any student gets infected after the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration and travels, it may easily lead to an outbreak at schools,” Dr Zaliha was quoted as saying by Berita Harian.
She added that the final decision on the proposal will lie with the Education Ministry.
Previously, Fadhlina was reported as saying that her ministry would monitor the latest developments and consider mandatory screenings as well as seek advice from the Health Ministry.
On Monday, the Health Ministry reported that Malaysia has to date recorded 12 cases of the Arcturus subvariant.
The variant was detected in Sarawak (six), Selangor (four) and Kuala Lumpur (two), as the number of cases dropped to 4,817 by 6.4% in the 16th epidemiological week from April 16 to 22 compared with the previous week.
All the cases of Arcturus in Malaysia are moderately symptomatic and stable, while worldwide risk reports say that the Arcturus subvariant has a lower risk of infection and more serious health problems than the previously reported sub-variants.
On April 2, the new variant was detected in 31 countries including Malaysia. – The Vibes, April 26, 2023
