IPOH, Oct 14 — Seven schools in Perak have been ordered to close temporarily after suspected Covid-19 positive cases.

The seven schools are SMK King Edward VII, SMK (P) Treacher Methodist and SK Convent Kota in Taiping, SMK Bukit Jana and SK Taman Jana in Kamunting, SK Ulu Mengkuang in Selama, and SK Lekir Batu 8 in Sitiawan.

State Education, Human Capital, Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Civil Society committee chairman Razman Zakaria said that the schools will be closed for seven days in order to carry out the cleaning and disinfection works.

"The Ministry of Education Malaysia (on October 9 has informed that the special meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) on the management of Covid-19, which was chaired by the Prime Minister, has decided that any school with a positive Covid-19 case should be closed  for a period of seven days without waiting for the risk analysis by the Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH).

"Following the order, the State Education Department has decided to close the seven schools for that purpose,” he said in a statement.

Razman also urge all the schools to comply with the instructions from the State Education Department.

"We also advice parents not to be anxious or panic with this latest development. We urge them to cooperate and comply with the standard operating procedures (SOP) set by NSC and MOH in order to break the Covid-19 chain,” he said.

Separately, Razman also advice all the schools in the state to take their own initiative to implement sanitation in their respective premises.

"The schools also need to adopt strict SOPs on all visitors, parents, students and even teachers, especially those who are in or returning from risky areas to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus,” he said.