Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Health Director Datuk Dr. Christina Rundi said the state's new Covid-19 case announced on Monday involved a school student, apparently in response to viral images and messages claiming the case was detected at SK Inanam Laut, near here.

Samples from the student's family and classmates have been taken and they have been placed under quarantine, said Rundi in a statement without saying which school it was.

She said parents should not send their sick children to school and instead seek treatment.

On Monday, Sinar Harian reported Health Director-General Datuk Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah as saying in a WhatsApp message that the viral messages, which purported that the case had involved a Year Two student of the school, were fake news.

The case is the first confirmed case involving a school student in Malaysia after the reopening of schools previously shut down for months to contain the pandemic.