Flu scare: schools shut

A father picked up his maskwearing son from the Saint Gabriel school yesterday.

The spread of influenza (A)H1N1 has forced Bangkok's Saint Gabriel College to suspend all its classes and activities until next Thursday, while Saint Francis Xavier School has announced that it will shut down for seven days. Other schools are expected to follow suit.

The flu scare gripped schools after lab tests yesterday confirmed that at least four more students at Saint Gabriel have caught the virus. The school takes students from Grade 1 to Grade 12.

The decision to close Saint Gabriel came after a meeting between school executives, Deputy Public Health Minister Manit Nopamornbodi and Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra.

"City Hall will help clean the school," said Sukhumbhand, adding that the Public Health Ministry would provide healthcare manuals to teachers, students and their parents.

Parents' fear

"I am very concerned and fully support the closure," said a mother who was collecting her sons from the school.

Saint Gabriel had decided on Wednesday to suspend all Grade 6 classes for three days after a single student was confirmed infected. At that stage some parents decided to take their children out of other classes too.

"We'd better play it safe," one parent said.

"It's scary to see everyone here wearing masks, and one of my friends is showing signs of flu," said a Grade3 student. He was so worried, he called his aunt and asked her to take him home.

Along with the five students who have tested positive for the (A)H1N1 virus, test results on four other suspected cases are still pending.

Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai yesterday called on all schools to monitor the situation in their classrooms closely.

"Please keep an eye out for signs of flu in children," he said, adding that suspected cases should be reported to the authorities immediately.

The symptoms of influenza (A)H1N1 include fever, coughing and sore throat.

Schools, department stores, pubs, bars and Internet cafes  are being invited to a meeting to discuss measures to prevent the spread of the disease on Monday.

Meanwhile the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration yesterday instructed all schools in and around the capital to disinfect their premises against typeA (H1N1) influenza.

St Francis Xavier Convent School will also be closed today even though no cases have been reported there so far, said Deputy Health Minister Manit Nopamornbodi.

In Pathum Thani province north of Bangkok, 50 nurseryschool students were taking medication after falling ill.

Public Health Ministry deputy permanent secretary Dr Paijit Warachit admitted the Kingdom now faced internal spread of the disease.

Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra said all schools in Bangkok would be cleaned and sanitised this weekend and that the first batch of 1,000 face masks would be distributed to highrisk students and teachers.

"Each student [and their parents] should take good care of their health and seek treatment immediately fever and flulike symptoms develop," he said.

The BMA will hold a meeting with representatives from schools, private tutorial centres, cineplexes, pubs and restaurants and other largescale public places today to discuss preventive measures.

At St Gabriel's, some students showed up with face masks, while others were told to stay home.

All teachers and students were advised to wear face masks and wash their hands frequently.

The Public Health Ministry reported 21 new cases of the flu after 90 bodilyfluid samples from staff of a Pattaya hotel discotheque were taken for lab tests.

The move followed a report that two Taiwanese tourists who visited Pattaya had caught the flu in the beach resort and developed symptoms upon returning home.

"All 21 cases testing positive are staff of that disco in Pattaya," said Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai.

Of the other five new cases, one is the mother of an 11yearold infected schoolboy confirmed earlier. Even though she showed no symptoms, tests indicate she is carrying the disease.

Another patient had no record of travelling abroad, but he picked up his son recently at Suvarnabhumi Airport after he returned from a foreign country.

Two other cases are a man who had just returned from Singapore and a woman who had visited the US recently.

The fifth is a British man with a high fever and runny nose transiting Suvarnabhumi on his way to Cambodia. He was admitted to hospital and tested positive for the virus.

Fact Sheet :

Thailand's total 2009 flu cases: 46

17 were workers at a Pattaya discotheque

4 were admitted to a Chon Buri hospital

5 were St Gabriel's school students