Hong Kong schools could close before Lunar New Year holiday to stem seasonal flu outbreak
City’s leader will get experts’ advice on whether keeping young children home could arrest spread of virus that has killed 104 people in one month
The Lunar New Year holidays could start early for schoolchildren in Hong Kong as the city’s leader weighs the merits of keeping pupils home following flu outbreaks in kindergartens and primary schools that have caused two deaths.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said she would talk to the city’s flu experts, University of Hong Kong microbiologist Professor Yuen Kwok-yung and Chinese University professor of respiratory medicine Dr David Hui Shu-cheong, on Tuesday afternoon.
Four more Hong Kong primary schools hit by flu as expert warns of post-Lunar New Year outbreak
Since flu season began in Hong Kong last month, there have been more than 330 outbreaks of the virus. Figures from the government’s Centre for Health Protection showed that from January 7 to February 4, 182 adults developed serious flu complications. Of those, 104 died, with 88 of them above the age of 65.
On Monday, the centre warned seasonal influenza was “expected to remain at an elevated level in the coming few weeks”.
At her weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Lam said she wanted to know experts’ views on vaccines and the pathology of the virus.
