Industry News
Hong Kong closes all schools after flu outbreak
Posted on 14th March 2008
Schools and kindergartens across Hong Kong have been forced to close for two weeks, after three children died following an influenza outbreak.
The government decided to send more than 550,000 students home from school when it was revealed that 184 cases of flu had been reported over the last few days.
So far no link has been made with bird flu - World Health Organisation spokesman Peter Cordingley told the Associated Press that this appears to be "regular seasonal flu".
Originally Dr York Chow, Hong Kong’s secretary for health and food, had said he did not see a need to close down schools.
However, he changed his mind after seven-year-old Law Ho-ming was admitted to hospital in a semi-conscious state, suffering from fever and flu.
He died earlier this week as a result of swelling of the brain, prompting Dr Chow to launch an investigation into why three children had died.
The New York Times reports that the secretary is "risking his political career" on the move, as many parents are angry at having to find day care for their children at such short notice.
Many people are also deeply concerned that this may be another SARS-like virus, which hit the province in 2003 and killed 299 people within two months.
As a result, face-masks were once again a common sight on the streets of Hong Kong today.
It is not uncommon for health authorities to close down schools when a serious illness breaks out, but a shutdown on this scale is rare.
Schools in the UK will close if a significant number of pupils and teachers are off sick with a specific illness, such as food poisoning or flu, to the point where the school cannot run effectively.
Last November a grammar school in Liverpool was forced to administer 600 students with an emergency meningitis vaccine, after two pupils were diagnosed with the illness.