Calapan City under state of calamity due to H1N1 outbreak

CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines – This city was placed under a state of calamity after the Departments of Health and Education declared an outbreak of the Influenza A(H1N1) virus when 400 students in two of the biggest public elementary and high schools showed flu-like symptoms.

Ten out of the 400 students stricken with flu have tested positive for A(H1N1), local health officials and Calapan Mayor Salvador Leachon said.

Due to this development, Leachon has suspended classes in all public and private elementary and high schools here for ten days, starting July 23 until Aug. 3.

“All public elementary and high schools in the city will have no classes for 10 days starting July 23 due to A(H1N1) outbreak. Classes are suspended in order for our health workers to conduct disinfection and to intensify the information dissemination about the virus up to barangay level,” said Leachon.

In an interview with The STAR, Leachon said he suspended classes in all public and private schools because 400 students from Adriatico Elementary School and Jose J. Leido National High School suffered from fever and showed flu-like symptoms.

He said they could not test all students because of the high cost of the procedure, prompting them to just test students at random.

But in another report, quoting records from Calapan City government and the Department of Education (DepEd), more than 15 students of the Jose J. Leido Jr. National Memorial High School tested positive for A(H1N1) and 300 students showed flu-like symptoms.

At the Adriatico Memorial School, eight elementary students were found positive for A(H1N1), according to data furnished by the Calapan City government.

The Calapan City government said some of the students went on self-quarantine, some went to Manila for testing, while others were confined.

Adriatico Memorial School Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) president Federico Cabailo Jr. said in an advisory that almost 80 percent of AMS students showed flu-like symptoms.

Leachon advised parents to strictly compel their children to stay at home on self-quarantine to prevent the spread of the virus.

The regional health office here also advised people to wash their hands before eating, cover their mouth when coughing and practice social distancing.

Leachon initially ordered a 9-day suspension of classes at the Managpi Elementary School after 132 of its pupils displayed flu-like symptoms. The mayor said five of the pupils, who were randomly checked for flu, tested positive for A(H1N1).

Leachon also said he expects the immediate release of calamity funds in order for them to procure much needed medicine and other requirements to fight the A(H1N1) virus.

Two students test positive in Albay

In Tabaco City, Albay, two more senior high school students tested positive for A(H1N1) virus infection, bringing to nine the total cases of A(H1N1) in Albay or 28 cases in the Bicol region, health officials reported.

Dr. Luis Mendoza, Albay health officer, said that the latest A(H1N1) cases were two fourth year male students of Tabaco National High School, a state-owned public school in Tabaco City with at least 7,000 student population.

The official said the two students are yet to fully recover because they still have coughs until yesterday. School authorities there had already decided to suspend classes for a week.

The other day, six elementary pupils of the Catholic school Saint Agnes Academy in Legazpi City also tested positive for A(H1N1), a situation that prompted the school’s authorities to suspend classes until the end of this month.

Mendoza said they had already formed health teams to effect massive tracing of possible infected persons who made contact with the A(H1N1)-positive patients.

A nine-year-old Australian boy who visited this city last week was the first confirmed A(H1N1) positive case in Albay, although he had already recovered and is now back in Australia.

Camarines Sur has 18 cases and Sorsogon has one case, but all have recovered. – With Ding Cervantes, Mayen Jaymalin, Cet Dematera, Arnell Ozaeta, Artemio Dumlao