The government of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Thursday announced that it has strengthened its precautionary measures against pandemic influenza, as flu outbreak in Hong Kong has forced the local government to shut down all primary schools.

The government-run Conde S. Januario Hospital in Macao is on a second-degree alert against pandemic influenza, and anti-flu medications and other relevant medical materials are in sufficient supply for emergent needs, according to a press release from the Macao government.

The government of Hong Kong SAR announced last night that all primary schools, special schools, nurseries and kindergartens will be closed for two weeks from March 13 in a bid to prevent flu infections from further spreading, as several local children suffering from flu-like symptoms died in the past few weeks.

Meanwhile, the Center for Health Protection of Hong Kong's Department of Health said that yesterday it received reports of flu outbreaks at 23 schools, affecting 184 people.

Officials of Macao's Health Bureau Thursday held a video conference with its Hong Kong counterparts on the current situation of the flu outbreak, and under a regional cooperation system of pandemic prevention, Macao will send an expert group to Hong Kong to discuss the issue with relevant experts and officials from Hong Kong and Guangdong province, according to the press release.

In addition, Macao's Health Bureau and the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau have coordinated to launch a prevention plan monitoring the situation of infectious disease at the city's 36 schools, and, by far, the number of children asking for sick leave due to symptoms of fever and upper respiratory infections did not record any evident increase compared with the same period of last year.

"There is no need to adopt higher level (prevention) measures, as, by far no abnormal situation was detected under Macao's flu infection monitoring system," said Tong Ka Io, director of Macao's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, adding that some of the local schools has already required its students to have temperature checks before going to classes.

Despite the relatively low flu infection rate in Macao, Tong still said the Center will closely follow the situation of the flu outbreak in Hong Kong in case it worsens and in the meantime the public should take better precautionary measures against flu infection, as currently Macao is still undergoing a flu season.

(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2008)