JOHOR BARU, May 13 — The hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) cases in Johor continue to rise with seven new clusters reported in the latest epidemiological week (ME).
Johor health and unity committee chairman Ling Tian Soon said there were seven new HFMD clusters, bringing the total cumulative clusters to 86 involving 30 kindergartens, 21 pre-schools, 15 childcare centres, a primary school and a private residential area.
He said 1,964 cases were recorded in ME19, against 1,687 in ME18, an increase of 16.4 per cent.
“This brings the cumulative HFMD cases this year to date to 13,415.
“Out of the figure, a majority of those affected were children aged below six with 10,773 cases, representing 80.3 per cent, followed by those aged between seven and 12 years (2,269 cases, 16.9 per cent), with the remaining patients aged 13 and above,” he said in a statement today.
Ling said HFMD cases in Johor had exceeded the alert level since early this year and showed a greater frequency compared to the last two years.
He reminded early education centre operators to take precautionary measures in an effort to minimise the risk of infection.
“Practise and observe high standards of hygiene and immediately report to the nearest district health office once HFMD is detected within the premises,” he said.
Johor had previously reported a spike in HFMD cases beginning in January this year compared with the same periods in 2023 and 2024.
Yesterday, it was reported that there was a total of 99,601 HFMD cases nationwide for ME17. The Health Ministry said this figure represents an increase of 266 per cent compared to 27,236 cases during the same period last year.
It said a total of 10,421 cases (10 per cent) are related to outbreaks, while 89,180 cases (90 per cent) are sporadic cases.
An epidemiological week is a standardised seven-day period used in public health monitoring and research. It starts on a Sunday and ends on a Saturday, allowing for easy tracking of the disease trends across different time periods.
