JOHOR BAHRU: A total of 77.80 per cent of cluster cases of respiratory tract infection, such as influenza-like-illness (ILI) and upper respiratory tract infection (URTI), in Johor, involved educational institutions.
State Health and Unity Committee chairman Ling Tian Soon said most of the educational institutions involved were boarding schools.
“Most of the reported clusters involve educational institutions, which is 77.80 per cent.
“(However) the monitoring carried out by the state Health Department (JKNJ) of ILI and URTI infections found that the situation is still under control, even though several clusters involving boarding schools have been detected,” he said in a statement, here today.
He said a total of 1,531 cases of respiratory tract infection were reported during Epidemiological Week 31 (ME 31), which is an increase of 2.7 times, compared with 574 cases reported in the same period last year.
Ling said the number of clusters also increased to 18, compared with eight reported in the same period last year.
He said that, in general, cases of ILI and URTI are common infections that occur in Malaysia throughout the year, and only require monitoring and self-isolation.
Therefore, he said JKNJ advises the public to take preventive measures by practising personal hygiene and washing hands regularly, using water, soap or hand sanitiser. - Bernama
