Mizzima News

New Delhi (Mizzima) - An international school in Rangoon, Burma’s former capital, was compelled to declare a holiday for a week after at least five students were detected with the H1N1 virus.

Five students studying in Kindergarten to Class 4 of the International School Yangon (ISY) were found to be infected with the deadly virus, following which the Ministry of Health ordered the school to be closed for a week on Friday.

“'Yes, it is closed because the Ministry of Health directed us to close the school for five days after five students were detected with H1N1,'' Tim Travers, director of the school told Mizzima on Tuesday.

The school, which is mostly attended by children of foreign diplomats in Rangoon, will remain close from a week, Monday through Friday, he said.

Travers said, when the school reopens, precautionary measures will be taken in accordance with the recommendation by the World Health Organization, the American Embassy, and the Ministry of Health.

The ISY has a total of 427 students, mostly children of foreign diplomats living in Rangoon, including about 100 Burmese students. The school provides education up to the class 12.

According to the Burmese government’s announcement carried in its state-run newspapers, so far the Ministry of Health has detected 30 people with H1N1 virus, of whom 25 have recovered from the disease while five others are still under treatment.

But a Thailand-based health expert Dr Voravit Suwanvanichkij, who has been monitoring Burma’s public health system, says with Burma not having a proper public health system, the government’s announcement could only be the tip of the iceberg and there could be a danger of an outbreak going unnoticed.