Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
Swine flu: Riyadh school shut
By Shahid Ali Khan
RIYADH – The Future Generation International School here for Filipino children was closed down for a week after confirmed swine flu cases were found among some students, a Philippines Embassy official said.
Vice Consul Romulo Israel confirmed the closure after the Saudi Health Ministry announced Monday that the government closed an international school in the capital city after 20 students were diagnosed with swine flu.
But the embassy official told Saudi Gazette that “only four cases” of swine flu were confirmed in the school in the densely populated Suleimaniya district adjacent to the posh Olaya where the Faisaliya and Kingdom Towers are located.
He said the school was closed for a week and reopened on Saturday.
“The four students were quarantined and have recovered and are out of hospital.”
On Monday, the embassy held a meeting of all 12 Saudi-owned and community-run Philippines schools in the capital city to investigate the likelihood of any more cases of students down with fever, the official said.
A Health Ministry official contacted by AFP would not identify the school, only saying that it served people from an east Asian country.
Riyadh has several schools serving the children of hundreds of thousands of workers from east Asia, mainly the Philippines and Indonesia.
The school outbreak (20 cases as per the Health Ministry announcement) and 12 other newly diagnosed cases pushed the total for Saudi Arabia to 216, less than six weeks after the first case was detected. All of the victims so far have survived.
The school closure came as the government stepped up surveillance and education activities for the H1N1 flu, such as sending out millions of text messages to mobile users and asking preachers in mosques to help raise awareness.
Riyadh is especially concerned about the swine flu with upwards of two million people expected to arrive over the next five months on pilgrimages to the holy cities of Makkah and Madina. –
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2009071443637
By Shahid Ali Khan
RIYADH – The Future Generation International School here for Filipino children was closed down for a week after confirmed swine flu cases were found among some students, a Philippines Embassy official said.
Vice Consul Romulo Israel confirmed the closure after the Saudi Health Ministry announced Monday that the government closed an international school in the capital city after 20 students were diagnosed with swine flu.
But the embassy official told Saudi Gazette that “only four cases” of swine flu were confirmed in the school in the densely populated Suleimaniya district adjacent to the posh Olaya where the Faisaliya and Kingdom Towers are located.
He said the school was closed for a week and reopened on Saturday.
“The four students were quarantined and have recovered and are out of hospital.”
On Monday, the embassy held a meeting of all 12 Saudi-owned and community-run Philippines schools in the capital city to investigate the likelihood of any more cases of students down with fever, the official said.
A Health Ministry official contacted by AFP would not identify the school, only saying that it served people from an east Asian country.
Riyadh has several schools serving the children of hundreds of thousands of workers from east Asia, mainly the Philippines and Indonesia.
The school outbreak (20 cases as per the Health Ministry announcement) and 12 other newly diagnosed cases pushed the total for Saudi Arabia to 216, less than six weeks after the first case was detected. All of the victims so far have survived.
The school closure came as the government stepped up surveillance and education activities for the H1N1 flu, such as sending out millions of text messages to mobile users and asking preachers in mosques to help raise awareness.
Riyadh is especially concerned about the swine flu with upwards of two million people expected to arrive over the next five months on pilgrimages to the holy cities of Makkah and Madina. –
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2009071443637