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 08 October 2008 00:34 BST

Hong Kong primary schools to shut due to flu outbreaks

Thursday, 13 Mar 2008 12:45
Hong Kong is currently suffering its seasonal flu outbreak
Hong Kong's government has announced that it is to shut all elementary schools in a bid to contain the seasonal flu outbreak.

The schools will shut from today for two weeks as experts look into the recent deaths of four children.

Two of the children had been infected by the flu, while the cause of death in two others is currently unknown.

Dr York Chow, secretary for food and health in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, made the announcement to reporters today.

"We made the decision given the rising trend of flu infections within the community as the flu peak is expected to continue for week," he said.

"We hope such precautionary measure will help reduce the cross infection of the flu virus in schools and the community."

Mr Chow claimed that no common factors had been identified between the recent child deaths.

On Wednesday, the centre for health protection of the department of health received reports of influenza-like illness outbreaks in 23 schools affecting 184 people.

The health scare has not been linked to bird flu and experts have claimed that there is no cause for concern.

"This year, there seem to be slightly more flu cases, but from what I can see, we get a bad flu year every few years. I don’t think it is very unusual or different from previous years," Leo Poon, a virologist from the University of Hong Kong, told the Reuters news agency.End of story


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