Bangalore, Aug 11 (Inditop.com) One more school in Bangalore shut Tuesday because of the spreading influenza A (H1N1) virus, taking the number of schools in the tech hub to declare a holiday due to the disease to three.
Though no student had tested positive for the swine flu, Shishu Griha School announced it was closing for five days as a precaution. Principal Sujatha Mohan said it was not a hasty decision.
“The school will be closed as part of precautionary measures and it is not a hasty decision,” Mohan told Inditop. The school will reopen on Monday.
On Monday, Frank Anthony Public Junior School and Vidya Sagar School announced they were shutting down for a week after they reported one swine flu case each.
“We’ve decided to keep the junior section, till Class 5, of the school closed. The senior section is having normal classes,” said a Frank Anthony Public School official.
Other schools might follow suit.
“Children are vulnerable to swine flu. We’re confused. Parents are anxious about the safety of the children. With swine flu spreading fast, we are clueless about how long we will be able to keep our school open,” said the headmistress of a reputed private school in the city.
However, authorities have requested people not to panic, saying the government was taking measures to check the spread of the disease.
Principal Secretary (Health) I.R. Perumal said the present situation did not warrant holidays for schools.
“However, children with swine flu like symptoms should not come to school and parents need to take such children to hospitals and do proper health checking,” Perumal told Inditop.
The government has decided to establish a control room and start a helpline – 1056 – to provide details and measures to check the spread of H1N1 virus from Tuesday.
Anxious people with flu symptoms continued to throng designated city hospitals for a check up.
“Around 350 people came to check themselves of flu related symptoms Monday. We’ve collected the nasal and throat swabs of 60 people,” said Shashidhar Buggi, director of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases.
There have been 92 confirmed H1N1 cases in Karnataka.
