Hong Kong announces school suspension

All kindergartens, primary schools, child care centers and special schools in Hong Kong will be closed for 14 days, starting Friday. This is the special administrative region's latest effort to prevent the local transmission of A/H1N1 flu.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang announces on June 11, 2009  that all kindergartens, primary schools, child care centers and  special schools in Hong Kong will be closed for 14 days starting  Friday to prevent the local transmission of A/H1N1 influenza.  Twelve students from St. Paul's Convent School in Causeway Bay  were confirmed to have contracted the A/H1N1 virus and this brought about the decision of class suspension arrangement.(Xinhua/Lui Siu Wai)

The decision came on Thursday, after Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang met with a committee on pandemic strategies.

Earlier, 12 students from St. Paul's Convent School in Causeway Bay were confirmed to have contracted the virus, which became the first local cluster of cases in the territory. This spurred on the decision to suspend classes.

Tsang told the community not to panic but urged people to remain alert to combat the disease.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang said, "The education bureau and the health authorities will assess the situation daily in the next two weeks, before deciding whether to resume school. I believe we have successfully postponed the occurrence of local cases in the region. The government is fully prepared to cope with the development of the situation."