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A week after schools reopened in Delhi,a student of a South Delhi school tested positive for the H1N1 virus,forcing the school authorities to ask students of her class to stay at home. The driver,students and teachers accompanying her in the school bus were also asked to rest at home.
In the first case of swine flu in schools,the Class IX student of Sardar Patel Vidyalaya,Lodhi Estate,tested positive for the virus after she showed flu-like symptoms.
The girl had gone to Malaysia with her family. She reached India on July 8. We came to know about her situation only on Tuesday, Anuradha Joshi,SPV principal,said. The girl was reportedly infected while on vacation.
Her family has been placed under precautionary quarantine at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. I think it was very responsible of the father to inform us otherwise the situation might have been worse, Joshi told Newsline.
The students and teachers who were asked to stay at home have been asked to join school on July 20,Joshi said.
The school also issued precautionary notices to its students. The notice has the phone numbers of the doctors to be contacted if anybody displays flu-like symptoms, Dr Anjana Prakash,the Additional Nodal Officer handling swine flu for the Delhi government,said.
The school also held a meeting with a panel of doctors from the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC),including the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and the schools own group of doctors on Tuesday. Later,a circular on prevention of swine flu was also sent to the students.
The school did not say if the attendance has decreased after the flu scare. It is just an exaggeration,the school is functioning normally, a teacher said.
Authorities at other schools ,meanwhile,claimed the incident has raised fears. Obviously,it raises fear among the public. Everybody wants to stay safe. The decision taken by the school is the best they could have done, Lata Vaidyanathan,principal of Modern School,Barakhamba,said.
No need to panic,says Kiran Walia
Delhi Health Minister Kiran Walia,meanwhile,said the ministry does not want to create any unnecessary fear among the public by issuing any advisory to the schools. It is just one student of one Delhi school in the whole of Delhi. We should not create any unnecessary fear or panic among the people by issuing any advisories or guidelines.
We have Rapid Response Teams in nine districts and they are tracking every such case in Delhi; we also have two coordinators. So there is no need to panic. The whole thing is in place, Walia told Newsline.
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