Universities cancel National Day holiday

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-09-30 13:54

Universities in several provinces have cancelled the National Day holiday to prevent the spread of the A/H1N1 influenza, postponing the eight-day break to the winter holiday of this academic year, Guangzhou Daily reported.

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Several universities in Heilongjiang, Shandong, Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces decided to cancel the holiday after 10 days of discussion. All teaching and research work will be done a week ahead of schedule.

As hundreds of students have been confirmed with the deadly flu, experts said the flu might spread in a larger scale after the holiday.

The upcoming National Day holiday will last for eight days, covering the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival.

This is the first time holidays have been cancelled by universities to help prevent and control a certain kind of disease.

The Ministry of Health said on its website that 2,317 more patients were confirmed with the flu as of Sept 28, including six cases from overseas. Until now 13,407 patients out of the total 18,285 confirmed cases have been cured and no patients have died from the disease.