On 19 August 2019, Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, the Deputy Chief Minister of Sarawak, announced that principals would be given discretion on closing their schools if API reading became 'unhealthy'.[55] On September 10th, the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) sent 500,000 face masks to Sarawak amid worsening trans-boundary haze in the state.[56] The state of Johor's Education Department closed down all schools and kindergartens in Pontian, Muar and Tangkak on September 15 due to the haze, affecting over 64,000 students.[57] Putrajaya and Selangor also announce the closure of 25 and 138 schools respectively for the 17th of September as the haze situation worsened in those areas.[58][59] During September 19th-21th, all schools in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Selangor, and Penang, totaling at 1,658 schools, were closed. Alongside that, 119 schools in Kedah, 147 in Perak, and 59 in Negeri Sembilan followed the closing on September 19th.[60]