No need for schools to close: Nahid

The current swine flu situation in Bangladesh does not require that educational institutes be shut, the education minister said yesterday, a day after two private schools in Dhaka announced their closures as a precautionary measure.
Two of the city’s top English-medium schools-Scholastica and Sunbeams-announced they were suspending their academic activities for an indefinite period from yesterday.
“The two schools were closed without consulting us. The situation is not so bad that schools have to shut,” education minister Nurul Islam Nahid told reporters at the secretariat.
“We are in close touch with the health ministry. The health minister yesterday (Saturday) also said that no situation has arisen that we should panic,” Nahid said.
The minister suggested that if any pupil complains of flu symptoms at school he or she should be admitted to hospital immediately.
“We will watch round the clock to prevent the spread of the virus in educational institutions,” he said.
Four more cases of swine flu were confirmed in Bangladesh on Saturday, taking the total number of cases detected in the country to 102.
Dr Mahmudur Rahman, Director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), told the news agency three of the four new cases were admitted to hospital and the other victims had either made a full recovery or were recovering.
Authorities have all along been advising schools and offices to grant leave to anyone who displays symptoms of the flu. “But the government had not issued any notice regarding school closures because of swine flu,” Dr Rahman said.
Subodh Chandra Dhali, the education ministry’s senior information officer, also told the news agency on Saturday that no directive had been issued by the ministry to close educational institutions.
Dr Rahman said, “The situation is still under control.”
Health minister AFM Ruhal Haque, last week, said there was no need to panic, although the number of confirmed swine flu cases suddenly jumped, doubling in a matter of days from just 37 on Aug 15 to 74 on Aug 18.
He suggested that people across the country should go to their nearest health centre if they have any respiratory problems coupled with fever.
He also told people to be aware of simple measures they could take to prevent spread of the H1N1 virus, such as
using handkerchiefs when coughing or sneezing and washing hands with soap and water, and not spitting in public. 
 
Courtesy of bdnews24.com, Dhaka