Parents are asked not to send their children to school if they have symptoms of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD).

Johor Health, Environment and Agriculture Committee chairman Dr Sahruddin Jamal said schools were advised not to allow pupils with the symptoms to attend classes to prevent other pupils from getting infected.

According to Dr Sahruddin, parents and teachers can also carry out cleaning or disinfection activities by spraying disinfectants on chairs, tables and toys of their children and their pupils.

“This disease is caused by a virus that is easily transmitted, so parents and teachers need to be sensitive, and if any of our children are infected they need to be isolated and not send to schools or child care centres.

Infection can also be avoided by washing towels every time after use, by quarantining students suspected of being infected with the disease and informing the Department of Health if there are students who cannot attend school due to HFMD,” he said.

He was speaking to reporters after officiating the Johor Agriculture Department’s excellence service awards presentation ceremony Iskandar Puteri.

- Bernama