KUCHING, Oct 28 — The Education Ministry will decide if schools in Kuching should remain open after it was declared a Covid-19 red zone yesterday, said the Education Department’s state deputy director Dr Abang Hut Abang Engkeh.

"It depends on the situation and we leave it to the Education Ministry on whether to close the schools. This is what I can comment for now,” he said when asked about the closure of schools during a press conference at Batu Lintang Teacher Education Institute here today.

Abang Hut said the Education Department could only take action if Covid-19 positive cases had been detected in a particular school and such decisions would also be based on the advice of the State Disaster Management Committee.

On Monday, the state Education Department had issued a directive to two schools, namely SMK Wira Penrissen in Kota Samarahan and SK Jalan Haji Baki here, to close for seven days until Nov 1 due to the detection of positive Covid-19 cases there.

Kuching was classified as a red zone for Covid-19 yesterday as it has over 40 new cases detected for the past 14 days.

The Health Ministry classifies districts with more than 40 cases of Covid-19 in a two-week period as red zones, 40 and below as yellow zones and those with no cases as green zones. — Borneo Post