GEORGE TOWN, Sept 10 — Penang state executive councillor Jagdeep Singh Deo is calling on the federal government to open vaccination for all students in the country before they go back to school on October 1.

He said the vaccination for adolescents should be expanded nationwide, noting that the programme is currently only available in Sarawak and Selangor.

“The government must also make sure that all teachers are fully vaccinated,” he said in a press conference today.

He said there were also proposals for the government to defer the reopening of schools until all of the teachers and students have been fully vaccinated.

“There are now so many cases with so many variants and we see cases among children worldwide so this is very important, we must protect our children,” he said.

He said this matter was also discussed at the state-level security council meeting for children in Penang to be vaccinated before school reopens.

The local government committee chairman said Penang again recorded over 2,000 Covid-19 cases yesterday and that the state may be looking at over 2,000 cases for many more days to come.

“So, we have to be very strict about SOPs,” he said.

He also said all Penang assemblymen have been instructed to assist all Covid-19 cases who were undergoing home quarantine and also those who were impacted by the pandemic.

“The state assemblymen will be taking action to help those who need any kind of assistance,” he said.

He said so far, a total 30 public markets in the state have been ordered to close, including two markets that had to be closed twice, since the beginning of the pandemic last year.

“Even if there is one case, like the other day, I went to Taman Bagan market, there was one case and we ordered the market to close,” he said.

He said Penangites must continue to maintain strict SOPs to bring down the number of cases in the state.