Mumbai closes all schools over swine flu fears

INDIA: Indian authorities on Wednesday ordered all schools and colleges in the vast city of Mumbai to shut for a week over fears about the spread of swine flu.

The state government of Maharashtra has had the highest incidence of swine flu cases in India, and two women, aged 63 and 53, have died in Mumbai after being confirmed as having the virus.

“The government has decided to close down schools, colleges and coaching classes in the entire city for a week starting on Thursday,” said Suresh Wandile, spokesman for the state’s chief minister.

“We have seen a rise in swine flu cases in the state. We need to take care, hence these precautionary measures,” he said, adding that all cinemas and theatres would also close for three days.

Mumbai, home of the Bollywood film industry, is a teeming industrial and financial city with an estimated population of 18 million people.

It has about 1,100 public schools and 350 colleges, with scores more private institutions. Public concern in India about the spread of the A(H1N1) virus has mounted since the country’s first death from the disease on August 3.

As of Wednesday, 15 people infected by the virus had died, while more than 1,000 people had tested positive, the Press Trust of India news agency said.

The health ministry put the death toll at nine, saying it updated its figures every evening.

With the government appealing for calm, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad stressed that swine flu should be put in the context of other health risks in India.

“It is not the only virus we have in our country. We have much more fatal diseases, much more costly diseases,” he told reporters in Delhi earlier this week.

With most confirmed cases so far among people who have returned from overseas, tens of thousands of travellers arriving at India’s international airports from affected countries have been screened. Mumbai, Thursday, AFP