KEPALA BATAS: The state Education Department is awaiting feedback from the relevant authorities before deciding whether to reopen SK Permatang Janggus in Penaga, here, which was closed after a teacher contracted Covid-19.
Its director Abdul Rashid Abdul Samad said they were still waiting for a response from the National Security Council (NSC) and Health Ministry (MoH).
"The earlier closure order was only from Oct 1 until Oct 8.
"(But) Whether or not the school will reopen thereafter, or have its closure extended, it will all depend on response from the NSC and the MoH," he told the New Straits Times when contacted.
It was reported that SK Permatang Janggus in Penaga here was ordered to close for eight days, beginning Oct 1, after a female teacher, in her 40s, contracted Covid-19.
The teacher was said to be unwell and had sought treatment at a hospital in Kedah.
She is the wife of a politician from Kedah, who had gone for campaigning, during the recent Sabah state election.
About 400 pupils at the school were screened and told to observe home quarantine while awaiting the results. About 71 were tested negative while the rest awaiting their results.
Following reports of the positive case at the school, more than 1,000 villages of Permatang Janggus had taken extra precautionary measures, to break the chain of infection.
Villagers, met by the NST, said many had opted to stay indoor and only leave their homes when necessary.
Checks showed it was all quiet at the village, with hardly any movement.
Last Saturday, it was reported that three more positive Covid-19 cases were recorded in Penang, two of which had returned from Sabah, while another from the new Bah Rose cluster, which also included a seven-year-old from Permatang Janggus.