School shut after report of possible swine flu

ABU DHABI // Al Mutanabi Secondary School was closed by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) yesterday after suspected cases of swine flu were reported there, officials said. The school will remain shut for the rest of the week. The council made its decision based on the recommendation of the Health Authority-Abu Dhabi. Classes will resume on Sunday. Initially six classrooms at Al Mutanabi were shut before the authorities decided to close the whole school.

Officials from Adec, the agency that oversees schools in the capital, said parents at Al Mutanabi had been informed of the decision. School administrators could not be reached for comment. Al Mutanabi is the first school in Abu Dhabi to be closed since health and education authorities started monitoring schools for H1N1, the swine flu virus. However, H1N1 fears have caused the closure of 11 individual classes this term, of which seven in six Abu Dhabi schools are currently closed.

The British School-Al Khubairat was the first in the capital instructed to send children home after reporting suspected cases to HAAD last month. The school was told to close a Year Six class for a week after suspected cases of H1N1 were reported to the authorities. klewis@thenational.ae