02.07.09 School being closed to cut infection risk
Source: The Nation
Managers free to call off classes if they want: BMA
Closures of schools are being ordered widely to cope with outbreaks
of the type-A(H1N1) influenza, including an entire junior class at a
Khon Kaen vocational college and a primary school in Bangkok involving
hundreds of students.
An entire Navy conscript training centre housing 600 sailors in
Chon Buri's Sattahip district has been quarantined, after a sailor died
of an unknown flu-like illness. The quarantine will continue for
another seven days, although 22 sailors have been treated and
discharged from hospital.
Institute Khon Kaen campus, of 111 students, has been closed after
15 students caught the disease and doctors say more confirmed cases are
likely. Sanitisation of lecture rooms and facilities is set to begin
today.
The Ban Bang Kapi School in Bangkok has closed and will reopen
on July 9, after an 11-year-old fifth grader caught the disease.
Initial reports speculated she may have been exposed to the virus on a
public bus. She is recovering after receiving hospital treatment.
In Ubon Ratchathani, a 14-year-old girl has returned from
Bangkok with the disease after attending a concert last weekend. Three
of her schoolmates at Benjama Maharaj School in Muang district also
have unknown illnesses and a seven-day closure has been ordered.
Deputy Bangkok governor Malinee Sukvejworrakij said school
managements in Bangkok could freely choose to close their schools
independently to minimise the risk of influenza, as five people had now
died of the disease. Normally Bangkok based schools can be closed only
with the mutual approval of school management, the Public Health
Ministry and the city administration.
Angthong Patthamaroj Witthayakhom has closed and will be
reopened on July 9, after a student became infected and 100 were
treated for mild flu yesterday.
More than 70 students at Satree Angthong School are ill and were
ordered home after treatment. The school will be closed if necessary,
public health officials said.
Meanwhile, a correspondent for the health and medical unit at
Television Channel 3 tested positive to the new flu virus. She is now
undergoing hospital treatment.
The Department of Disease Control will invite all companies
providing housekeeping services to inform them on how to educate their
staffs on influenza infection prevention.
As experience of this virus remains limited and progress of the
influenza outbreak unpredictable, a national advisory board on medical
emergency will meet on Friday to discuss it and find out how to prevent
infected people from developing serious complications, or dying, from
type-A(H1N1) influenza infection.
| 
