PETALING JAYA: the public has been urged to continue practising good personal hygiene to prevent being infected with Influenza A(H1N1).
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai also urged all principals and school heads to follow the H1N1 management manual due to the high frequency of cluster cases at schools.
“Students and staff who are infected with the disease or showing influenza-like illness (ILI) symptoms should be sent home.
“they should also get treatment from the nearest health facilities and their condition must be reported to the nearest health office,” he said.
He added that screening must also be carried out to detect students with ILI symptoms at schools with cluster cases or those with abnormally high number of absentees.
Liow also urged those in the high-risk groups (children, senior citizens and those suffering from chronic diseases) to get vaccination.
Liow said that from Jan 1 until Wednesday, there had been 679 confirmed H1N1 cases with three deaths.
One victim was a SMK Bandar Baru Sungai Long student, who tested positive for the virus and died on Feb 24.
Liow said the Hulu Langat district health office had investigated the school on Tuesday and found that 15 of the 42 classmates of the deceased were having either cough or flu without fever.
He said that during the investigation, eight teachers were screened but none of them had ILI symptoms.
On Wednesday, the school decided to close until next Thursday when two of its teachers took medical leave due to fever, cough and flu and 149 out of its 1,600 students in the morning session were absent.
Health Ministry deputy director-general (public health) Datuk Dr Hasan Abdul Rahman said that as of yesterday, 21% of 263 ILI cases had tested positive for H1N1.
Meanwhile, Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said state education departments and district education officers had been put on alert to look out for any sign of Influenza A(H1N1) cases.
He said his ministry had “activated the mechanism” needed to monitor the situation and urged parents not to worry.