Education Ministry says situation is under control despite rising class suspensions (2009/10/21)
Cooler weather is being blamed for a sudden increase in the number of swine flu cases being reported around the nation. The situation is particularly hard-felt in schools, where the number of classes suspended skyrocketed to 639 on Wednesday. The Education Ministry said it has everything under control, however, and that it is following the standards set by the Central Epidemic Command Center.
The swine flu epidemic had cooled off but falling temperatures have brought the virus back to life. Group infections at schools have become a cause for concern with Education Ministry statistics showing an average of 300 classes cancelled every day due to outbreaks of the new flu. On Monday the number soared to over 500 and then increased by another 103 classes on Tuesday.
Wang Jun-cyun
Education Ministry
The number of suspended classes has definitely increased, but it is still under control. The standard for the suspension of classes was set by the Central Epidemic Command Center and the Education Ministry has made no change to that standard, said director of the Education Ministry’s Physical Education Department, Wang Jun-cyuan.
Wang said that so long as the ministry sticks with the standard of suspending a class for five days if two confirmed swine flu cases occur within three days, it has the situation under control. But when looking at statistics regarding the number of patients receiving treatment for the flu at clinics, after a peak was reached in early September, the figures began to rise again in October. The latest death caused by the new flu was a 54-year-old man who died in Keelung on Tuesday.
Currently 25 people have died from the flu and 395 have required hospitalization, with 25 of those still in hospital.
新流感緊張