HFMD cases in Melaka up 50% compared to last year

MELAKA: The number of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease ( HFMD) cases in the state has increased almost 50%, up to 1,446 cases between January and July 18 as compared to 795 cases over the same period last year.

State Health exco Low Chee Leong said, however, that despite the rising trend, the disease was still under control.

“Some preschools and kindergartens have to be closed,” he said.

However, the HFMD outbreak in Sabah is now under control.

In KOTA KINABALU, State Education Department director Datuk Maimunah Suhaibul said the 39 pupils with HFMD in Sabah were undergoing home quarantine, “and the situation is under control.”

Schools or preschools that were closed following the outbreak had reopened with classes functioning as normal, she said during the Kinabatangan and Tongod education district level Excellence Award ceremony and Teachers Day cele bration at a hotel here yesterday.

Maimunah said SJK(C) Chung Hwa in Sipitang was the only school that was still closed and would remain so until July 31.

In GEORGE TOWN, Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) president S.M. Mohamed Idris said indoor game areas in shopping malls and fast food outlets should be closed down temporarily to contain the HFMD.

However, state Health Committee chairman Dr Afif Bahardin said closing these play areas was not the answer.

“What the mall and outlet managements should do is to maintain the cleanliness of such areas at all times,” he said.