Hong Kong (dpa) - A Hong Kong primary school was closed Tuesday after a seven-year-old pupil died in hospital and 38 other students fell sick with flu.
Law Ho-ming was admitted to hospital with fever and flu symptoms and discharged, only to return two days later on Saturday. He fell into a coma and died Tuesday morning.
Thirty-eight fellow pupils at the Ho Yat Tung Primary School have fallen ill with flu and the school was Tuesday afternoon told by the government to close a week early for its Easter holiday because of the outbreak.
Law was readmitted to hospital on Saturday just 48 hours after being discharged following two days under observation. He quickly lapsed into a coma and was declared dead Tuesday morning.
On March 1, three-year-old Ho Po-yi died just hours after being sent home from Tuen Mun hospital after being taken in by her parents suffering from a high temperature and flu symptoms.
Doctors believe Law may have died of meningitis or a respiratory illness but the two cases have caused alarm among parents in the Tuen Mun district as the city hits the peak of its annual flu season.
Emergency units at hospitals say they are struggling to cope with the volume of parents bringing in children with flu symptoms as unfounded rumours spread that a deadly virus is in circulation.
Hong Kong saw the world's first modern-day outbreak of bird flu in 1997 when the virus infected 18 people, killing six of them. The former British colony has since been spared any major outbreaks.
In 2003, however, 299 people died and another 1,755 were infected when the SARS virus spread from China to the city of 6.9 million before going on to cause sporadic infections around the world.
Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=126445 
