KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 5 — The Ministry of Education (MoE) has decided that a total of 122 schools in the Kota Kinabalu, Penampang and Putatan areas in Sabah will be closed from tomorrow.

It said in a statement today that the decision to close the 86 primary schools, 25 secondary schools and 11 private schools was taken following the government’s implementation of the conditional movement control order (CMCO) in the three areas effective 12.01am on October 7.

"The MoE decided that the 122 schools in the area would be closed a day earlier.

"Schools outside the CMCO areas will go on as usual as explained in the ministry’s statement issued on October 3,” said the statement, adding that the ministry was aware of the concern among parents following the recent spike in Covid-19 cases.

The ministry said it would continue to always monitor the situation nationwide as well as cooperate with the National Security Council (MKN) and Ministry of Health to ensure the health and safety of those in schools are taken care of.

Senior Minister (Security) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob today said the enforcement of the CMCO was to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the three areas as well as to enable targeted active case detection to be carried out. — Bernama