Canterbury flu cases rise
Published: 12:06PM Tuesday June 16, 2009

Source: ONE News

The disruption caused by swine flu is spreading across the country with a Christchurch factory the first company to become a casualty.

About 100 workers were sent home after a second case of the virus there, while the number of children also forced to stay home is mounting as more and more schools are affected.

New Zealand now has a total of 109 confirmed cases, up from 86 on Monday and a jump of 23 cases in 24 hours with more predicted. There are also an additional 21 probable cases.

Bromley School is the first Christchurch school to be closed due to H1N1 flu.

Four pupils at the school, which has 320 students, have tested positive for the flu strain and it has been closed by health officials for a week.

Many caregivers turned up for a health briefing in the school hall on Tuesday afternoon and Tamiflu was given for any children who have been in direct contact with the four confirmed cases.

"The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education have been superb with their communication so everyone's pretty aware of it, they know what's coming, our pandemic planning's been pretty complete," says principal Scott Kinley.

Linwood College and Linwood Intermediate are two other eastern schools affected by swine flu, where one pupil at each school is infected but they remain open. It is understood nearly 40 staff and students from Linwood College are in isolation.

And a seafood export business in nearby Woolston has also been closed down by health officials, all from just one confirmed case - a Samoan woman who returned from Victoria over a week ago and unwittingly passed the flu on to her grandchildren who then spread it to school mates and other contacts.

As a result, 30 people in the Samoan community are now confirmed with the virus.

Canterbury Medical Officer of Health Alastair Humphrey says it is a bit like firefighting and they want to stay ahead of the fire.

"We want to make sure we close it down. We still have effectively one large bush fire we are trying to contain," Dr Humphrey says.

Officials are tracing contacts and sending them to the city's flu assessment centre.

Phil Schroeder from the Canterbury Primary Pandemic Group says there is about a 24 hour turnaround from when someone gets swabbed to knowing if they are infected.

"That gives them the freedom to take themselves out of isolation pretty quickly if they are negative," says Dr Schroeder.

The speed is essential to help health officials deal with what i turning into a containment headache.

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