Chinese schools report more A(H1N1) cases

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-09-08 23:57

BEIJING: More students were confirmed as having contracted A(H1N1) influenza in China Monday, about a week after the autumn term began. All the patients were in stable condition, health authorities said.

A total of 15 students at the Shuikou Township Middle School in Qionglai City and Chengdu University of Technology in Chengdu, southwest Sichuan Province were diagnosed as A(H1N1) patients Monday.

Last week, the Southwest Civil Aviation College in Chengdu City reported 43 students with A(H1N1) cases. All the patients were being treated at the infectious disease hospitals in Chengdu and Qionglai.

In northwest China's Shaanxi Province, the number of the cases at the Xi'an University of Arts and Science rose to 44 as Monday afternoon. Among them, 29 had recovered, while the others were in stable condition, said the Shaanxi Provincial Health Department.

At the Dongyue Middle School in Tai'an City, eastern Shandong Province, 24 students had contracted A(H1N1) influenza as of Monday since the first case was reported last Wednesday.

Classes were suspended at the Yueyun Middle School in Hengyang City, central China's Hunan Province, after an outbreak of A(H1N1) cases. More than 20 students began to show symptoms of flu last Wednesday. By Monday, five had been confirmed as A(H1N1) cases, while 36 others in the school showed symptoms of flu, said an official with the Hunan provincial health department.

This is the second A(H1N1) outbreak in schools in Hunan. Last month, 16 students in a school in Yongzhou city were found to be infected with A(H1N1).

Primary and middle schools in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, remained closed Monday in the wake of a recent outbreak of 43 A(H1N1) influenza cases. A total of 42 expert teams were sent to schools across the city to help prevent and cure the A(H1N1).

The central government vowed Monday to strengthen the prevention and control of the A(H1N1) flu in the run-up to the National Day celebrations, amid fears that the situation would worsen through autumn.

According to a statement released after a meeting held by the State Council, schools were currently the key places in the country's fight against the virus and classes should be suspended "properly" to avoid mass infection when an outbreak occurred.

By Monday, 5,592 cases of A(H1N1) flu had been reported on the Chinese mainland, of which 3,853 had recovered. There had been no death from the epidemic.