10 STUDENTS, 4 TEACHERS CONTRACTED COVID-19 AS OF JAN 26 - MASIDI

29 Jan 2021

By Ruby Koh

KOTA KINABALU: Within the six days period since the reopening of school on Jan 20, a total of 10 students and four teachers have tested positive for Covid-19, said Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun.

He said, eight of the students are from SM St Mary Sandakan where seven of them are hostel students, one from SMK Baru Sapi, and one from SMK Perempuan Sandakan.

Meanwhile, two of the teachers are from SMK Elopura while two more are from SMK Batu Sapi and SM St Mary Sandakan, respectively.

"The PdPR sessions through online learning or printed learning modules provided by the respective teachers for students who are not infected run as usual," he said during a press conference here, today.

According to him, the four schools involved were closed for ten days for sanitation works as instructed by the Sandakan Branch Health Office.

When asked if the closure of other schools would take place following the detection of Covid-19 transmissions in four of the schools, Masidi said no schools have been instructed to do so as of today.

"My ministry is waiting for information from the Ministry of Health (MoH) regarding the number of close contacts that have undergone screening (following the emergence of positive cases in the four schools)," he said.

The minister also disclosed that one Covid-19 positive case involving private kindergarten had been reported in the state.