GEORGE TOWN, Sept 14 — Penang state executive councillor Lim Siew Khim today urged local operators of childcare centres, nurseries and kindergartens to register their businesses in a bid to curb the spread of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) among children.

She disclosed that the state has 358 such illegal businesses, of which 60 are nurseries, 52 are childcare centres, and 246 kindergartens.

"I am appealing to these centres to register their centres now,” she said in a joint press conference with youth, sports and health committee chairman Daniel Gooi in Komtar here.

She said the authorities have already reduced the conversion fees to ease the process of registering the centres.

"As of now, we have a total of 126 nurseries, 96 childcare centres and 287 kindergartens that have registered,” she said.

She said it is urgent that these centres that care for very young children register in the wake of a rise in HFMD.

"Registered operators will be given the necessary support from government agencies to control the spread of HFMD,” she said.

She said the state can help with sanitisation of the premises.

She also called on parents to only send their children to legally registered centres.

Gooi said a total of 5,335 HFMD cases were reported in Penang between January 1 and September 9 this year, and that childcare centres, nurseries and kindergartens posed the highest risk areas for HFMD.

He said 86.8 per cent were in nurseries, kindergartens and pre-school centres, 9.9 per cent in primary schools and the balance in daycare centres.

"Although there is a drop of 15 per cent of cases compared to the same period last year, there is a rise in cases starting from the May 21 to 27 week,” he said.

"This year, about 61.2 per cent of the clusters involved between two and four cases,” he said.

Gooi said a majority of the cases involved children below six years old (80.6 per cent) while 15 per cent are children between the ages of seven and 12 years.

About 4.4 per cent involved those above 12 years old.

"So far no HFMD related deaths have been reported,” he said.

He said the health ministry together with the state government will continue to take steps to prevent the spread of HFMD.

He called on the childcare centres, kindergartens, nurseries and parents to cooperate with the authorities in ensuring the cleanliness of the premises and encourage the children to wash their hands to prevent the spread of HFMD.