MOH: Primary Students To Undergo Weekly Covid-19 Testing To Avoid School Clusters

Starting this Monday (29 November), primary school students are required to undergo weekly Covid-19 screening tests in rotation, to avoid new school clusters. Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the test was part of the National Covid-19 Testing Strategy. As quoted by Berita Harian, he said,

“Among the things from this strategy is the need for primary school students under the age of eligibility to receive the vaccine, to undergo screening tests every week. This test should be implemented on at least 10 per cent of the sample from the student population in a school.”

Commenting further, Khairy said, the students will undergo screening tests in turn on different samples every week to see if there are any symptoms or vice versa. If there are symptoms, of course, students must be tested, but even if there are no symptoms, in primary schools, a sample from the student population must be tested to ensure that there are no clusters at the school level. Based on the strategy, the students will undergo a Covid-19 self-test and be monitored by the school institution. In the meantime, he said, caregivers and visitors are now allowed to visit patients at all health facilities of the Ministry of Health (MOH), effective immediately.

He said the permission will be for some categories of patients who were receiving treatment. He elaborated that after hearing complaints from the people about the visiting policy for caregivers and visitors at MOH hospitals, MOH has decided to allow visits for certain categories of patients. For example, patients with critical illnesses and in need of care, critically ill patients, the disabled, the elderly, who need communication assistance involving pediatric patients, mothers in the process of childbirth and so on.

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