Varsity, RMC closed for a week

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Ma-laysia (UPNM) and the Royal Military College (RMC) in Sungai Besi have been closed for a week after 274 students showed signs of an influenza-like illness.
In Shah Alam, a class at SRK Subang Bistari has been closed until Monday after 15 of its 43 pupils displayed influenza-like symptoms.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said 207 students at UPNM and 67 at RMC had been quarantined.
Unaffected students have been advised to self-quarantine themselves at home and to practise social distancing from the public until further notice.
He said officials at both institutions had agreed to close their premises from 5pm until July 28.
"We were alerted by officials from UPNM and RMC yesterday after several of their student showed signs of an influenza-like illness.
"When we went there today (Tuesday), we found many students down with such symptoms. We advised them to close down both facilities and they agreed," Dr Ismail said when contacted by the New Straits Times yesterday.
He said UPNM had 1,874 students and 497 staff while RMC had 414 students and 310 staff.
"All the affected students have been placed in quarantine and monitoring at the UPNM and RMC medical facilities. No one has been admitted to government hospitals as they only showed mild symptoms of the disease."
He said those unaffected had been advised to inform the Health Ministry should they experience influenza-like illnesses later.
Ismail said Health Ministry officials had taken throat swabs from affected students.
"We expect to have the results of the samples by 9pm today (Tuesday)," he said.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the Year 5 class at SRK Subang Bistari would be closed until Monday.

After 24 hours of no new influenza A (H1N1) cases, the ministry yesterday reported three new cases, of which two involved people entering the country and one local transmission.
To date, the country has recorded 877 H1N1 cases.
Some 862 patients have recovered, while another nine are getting treatment at hospitals.
The remaining six are in home quarantine.
As of 8am yesterday, the World Health Organisation reported 136,536 H1N1 cases with 761 deaths in 156 countries.
Namibia became the latest country with H1N1 infections.
Liow said Malaysia will not be able to declare itself free of H1N1 any time soon because of the worldwide pandemic.
"We cannot relax and take this lightly.
"It is still serious and can spread if we don't take any mitigation measures," he said after opening the Association of Private Hospitals of Ma-laysia International Healthcare Conference and Exhibition at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre yesterday.
He said the ministry was focusing on treating patients warded in hospitals while those with mild influenza-like symptoms were being quarantined at home.
"We are taking random samples from infected people. We can't do it for every patient as our resources will be stretched to the limit."