Tuesday June 23, 2009
Second school hit by A (H1N1)
Reports by MAZWIN NIK ANIS, FOONG PEK YEE, WANI MUTHIAH, KAREN CHAPMAN, CHRISTINA TAN, TEH ENG HOCK, NADIYA AMALINA SAPTARI, NG MIN XI, LEE YEN MUN and SHAUN HO
Newsflash: Seri Cempaka school in Cheras closed for a week; as of Tues, there were 10 new cases, 2 of them local transmissions: Health Minister
PETALING JAYA: The SRK Assunta 2 here has been directed to close for a week beginning yesterday following a locally-transmitted case of influenza A (H1N1) detected at the school, making it the second school closure due to the disease.
Four other schools – Seri Cempaka International School in Batu 9, Cheras; SMK Seksyen 9 Shah Alam; SMK Damansara Utama in Petaling Jaya and SM Wangsa Maju in Kuala Lumpur – have each had one class stopped from yesterday.
With the exception of SM Wangsa Maju, where the closure order is until Thursday, students in the affected classes of the three remaining schools will have to skip school until Saturday.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai told a press conference here yesterday that an 11-year-old pupil from SRK Assunta 2 tested positive for the virus yesterday, which resulted in the closure of the school with immediate effect.
Click to view graphic He said SRK Assunta 2 would reopen on June 29, while SRK Assunta 1, which shares the same building and is the afternoon session of the school, was not affected by the closure.
Liow said only those schools where local transmissions were detected would be closed.
He urged parents not to panic, adding that children from affected schools must observe all home quarantine guidelines.
“They must stay at home and observe good hygiene.
“They must not go out for activities or tuition classes during home quarantine,” Liow said, adding that the family members of the students need not come under home quarantine.
Yesterday, it was reported that the SJK (C) Jalan Davidson in Kuala Lumpur, where an 11-year-old was confirmed to have been infected with the virus, was shut down until Friday after two more pupils fell ill.
On calls to close all schools, Liow said the Government would consider the proposal when the situation warranted it.
Meanwhile, health director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said three new locally-transmitted cases were detected in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to seven.
The three cases were among eight fresh cases of influenza A (H1N1) recorded yesterday, bringing the total number in the country to 58.
The five others were imported cases from Australia, Britain, the Philippines and Thailand.
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