KUALA LUMPUR: As of May 30, a total 71,471 hand, foot, mouth disease (HFMD) cases were reported in Malaysia.
Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali said the total increased 28-fold compared to the same period in 2021.
He said only 2,485 HFMD cases were reported in the country up to the 22nd Epidemiology Week (EW) last year.
He added that this year, the amount is 1.3-fold compared to the total 30,489 reported in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.
"HFMD is a common disease among children, and to date, 91 per cent or 65,032 cases involved children aged six-years-old and above, and another seven per cent (5,194 cases) were those aged between seven to 12-years-old.
"Of the 1,573 reported outbreaks, 956 or 61 per cent were in nurseries, kindergartens and pre-schools while 35 per cent were reported at personal residences as of May 30," he said in a statement today.
Dr Noor Azmi said almost 30 per cent of the HFMD cases were reported in Selangor while other states and federal territories each contributed less than 12 per cent of the total.
He added that Selangor registered 20,433 cases so far and Petaling district recorded highest number of cases at 7,247.
"Weekly cases had surpassed the warning level since the EW15 and the Selangor Health Department had set up a HFMD operation room since April 4.
"So far, 182 HFMD clusters were reported involving 773 cases … 83 per cent of the clusters were at nurseries, kindergartens and day care centres," he added.
He said as such, the Health Ministry had conducted townhall meetings (THM) to help curb the spread of HFMD in the country.
He said till May a total 187 THM sessions involving both public and private agencies were nationwide.
He explained that THM was a proactive effort that combines various health education activities such as talks, distribution of health education materials, self-hygiene and disinfection demonstrations.
"THM is crucial in educating parents, management of nurseries, kindergartens and pre-schools on the causes of HFMD and what are their roles in curbing the spread of the disease.
"The programme also emphasises the importance of prevention and control activities that need to be done at their respective premises.
"During the THM sessions, nurseries, kindergartens and pre-school operators and teachers are informed of actions that need to be taken to make sure their premises are free from HFMD," he said.