School shut after 11 pupils fall ill in Guangdong

By Jane Chen  |   2009-6-24  |     ONLINE EDITION

A PRIMARY school in south China's Guangdong Province will be shut for a week from today after 11 pupils developed high temperatures, the Jiangmen City government announced early this morning.

The sick pupils, prompting concern of a possible swine flu outbreak, are all confined to their homes for treatment while the local health authority researches the cases, the government said.

The city introduced its swine flu prevention emergency measures today.

The Jiangmen Disease Control and Prevention Center received a report from the city's Pengjiang District Education Committee at 5pm on Monday that several pupils at the district's Beijiao Primary School had asked for sick leave after developing a fever, the China National Radio reported.

The center looked into the case yesterday and confirmed that 11 pupils in a grade-6 class had developed flu symptoms from last Friday. The pupils, aged between 12-14 years old, included eight boys and three girls.

None of them were serious. The temperatures of nine of the pupils have returned to normal.

The disease control and prevention center is investigating the pupils who were first taken ill to discover the source of the infection.

It has sent samples taken from the pupils to the provincial health authority to test whether they are infected with swine flu.

Earlier this week, 30 pupils were confirmed as suffering from swine flu at the Shipai Township Central Primary School in Guangdong's Dongguan City.