St Gabriel cancels all classes after more students infected by flu

The school's administrators announced the decision to suspend all classes from June 12 to 18 through in-house radio in the school on Thursday afternoon.

The school's first patient of the flu was a Grade 6 student who had no record of travelling to a foreign country. The school initially cancelled Grade-6 classes for three days, starting today.

Public Health Ministry collected samples from 13 students who was the boy's classmates.

The decision to close the school for seven days came after four of the 13 students were confirmed of being infected by the flu.

Earlier it was reported that he lab test results of 13 students of a private Bangkok school who were placed under quarantine will be released Thursday afternoon.

The tests on the group were made after one of their classmates tested positive to Influenza A (H1N1) virus. The boy had no record of travelling to a foreign country.

He is the second case of human-to-human transmission in Thailand.

Three classrooms were ordered to close from Wednesday through Saturday for cleaning and disinfecting to prevent the spread of the virus.

Students came to school Thursday wearing sanitary masks. Some parents kept their children home, particularly those of younger ages. Department of Health officials advised teachers and students to protect themselves and handed out pamphlets, sanitary masks and hand wash gel.

The Public Health Ministry has not ordered the school to close as there was no report of further infections, said Deputy Public Health Minister Manit Nopamornbhodi.

However, he said the ministry is expected to meet with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and schools in Bangkok to take further action and to boost preventive measures against the H1N1 virus after the lab results are disclosed Thursday.

Secretary General Bundit Sriputtangul of the Private Education Commission visited the school Thursday morning. He said if there are new infections after the lab test results Thursday, the school is authorised to close immediately.