ALOR STAR: The Health Ministry projected that the Hand Food and Mouth Disease (HFMD) infection cases nationwide will see a downward trend within the next two or three weeks.
Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said this projection was based on the theory that children's immunity levels improve after being exposed to the virus.
"Commonly, HFMD is a localised, seasonal disease. It started with a wave and it will slow down significantly by itself within a month.
"As more children are getting exposed to the virus, their immunity level will improve and the number of infection cases will be slowing down," he said.
Khairy added that the unusually high number of HFMD infections nationwide could be contributed to the children's lack of exposure to the outside environment over the past two years due to lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"We have a theory why there was a sudden surge of infection cases and the numbers are higher compared to the pre-pandemic era in 2019.
"Firstly, all children's early education centres have been reopened. Secondly, our children were not exposed to the outside world for the past two years.
"So when they were not exposed to the virus, their immunity level declined. We can say that our children have become HFMD naïve, hence the number of infection cases is higher than usual," he said.
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However, Khairy added that most of the reported HFMD infection cases were not serious.
"Parents are advised to get treatment for their children infected with HFMD and refrain from sending their children who develop HFMD symptoms to taska and tadika," he told reporters at the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital here today.
Earlier, Khairy attended the handing over of medical supply equipment from the government of Japan for Malaysian public hospitals in battling Covid-19 pandemic worth nearly RM20 million.
The aid, which was presented by Japanese ambassador to Malaysia, Takahashi Katsuhiko, was part of Japan's Grant Aid for the economic and social development programme 2020, which benefited 81 public hospitals nationwide.