SEPANG, Sept 19 — Seventy per cent or 8,895 out of the 12,545 employees of taska (nurseries) registered with the Social Welfare Department (JKM) nationwide have completed their Covid-19 vaccination, said Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rina. Mohd Harun

Rina, who was satisfied with the development, said a total of 1,853 taska staff had received the first dose of Covid-19 injection as of Sept 17 while another 1,797 were waiting for an appointment to get the first dose.

"I ask taska operators to ensure that the SOP (standard operating procedures) are complied with to ensure a safe nursery environment for children,” she told reporters after inspecting on preparations for taska operations here, today.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Sept 16 had announced that kindergartens, taska, day care centres and mind development centres for children whose parents are working are allowed to operate in Phase One and Phase Two states of the National Recovery Plan (PPN) effective Sept 17.

Rina said 2,618 taska operators nationwide had benefited from the Taska Special Assistance programme under the National People’s Well-Being and Economic Recovery Package (Pemulih) that was provided for the continuation of JKM-registered taska operations.

She said the payments had been made from Sept 1 which provided assistance of RM3,000 for institutional, workplace and community taska while RM800 for home taska operators.

The assistance, she said, was to ease the burden of the taska management and assist in their operation process such as bearing the cost of disinfection of nurseries or other necessities so that they could comply with the SOP set by the National Security Council (MKN). — Bernama