China launches nationwide anti-flu campaign

Between Monday and Wednesday, the Chinese mainland confirmed 6,345 new cases of the A/H1N1 flu. More than 200 cases were reported in Beijing on Tuesday and Wednesday. The total number of confirmed cases now stands at 42,000. In a nationwide anti-flu campaign, health workers are vaccinating the population, with schools getting the highest priority.

In Xinjiang, 13 districts report 1,558 A/H1N1 flu cases with one death of the virus. Nearly 90 percent of cases originate in primary and middle schools. The education authorities in Urmuqi would suspend class if more than 10 students have a fever.

Wang Xiaoyan from Xinjang Health Department said, "Our current job is execution. So the next move will be pushing harder for the implementation of vaccination strategies, especially in schools."

In the capital of Beijing, more than 300 A/H1N1 cases were reported in the last few days. Schools and kindergartens take extra effort to prevent the disease.

Classrooms, toilets and reading rooms are disinfected three times a day. And teachers monitor students temperatures in the morning, at noon and in the afternoon.

In this primary school, students are told to have their breaks in a given area and not to hang out with friends from a different class or grade. The school doctor keeps track of students with a fever in a quarantine room.

For students who stay home for medical observation, the school assigns teachers to send emails and to even conduct learning sessions via online video link, so they can keep up with their studies.

And it's not just big cities getting priority to the anti-flu campaign. The western regions which feature relatively less-well developed medical infrastructure, are also involved in the plan. The Ministry of Health says it has set up teams in western provinces to treat patients in bad conditions.