All primary schools, special schools, nurseries and kindergartens across the territory will be closed for two weeks from today to control the further spread of influenza.
The closure came after another three-year-old child, who was admitted to Princess Margaret Hospital on Wednesday with flu-like symptoms, was transferred to intensive care.
Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of the World Health Organization alert on SARS .
Health chief York Chow Yat-ngok announced the closure late last night after meeting health and education officials and microbiology professor Yuen Kwok-yung, who will lead a five- strong panel probing the deaths of the three children with flu-like symptoms.
Chow described the closure as a "preventive" and "administrative" measure to prevent cross infections.
The incubation period of flu was usually seven days and the break would be enough to help "alleviate" the risk it might spread further.
There will be "special arrangements" for families unable to take care of their children. The special panel will focus on the cause of the "super spreading" of the disease, the sudden deterioration leading to the deaths and DNA sequencing to find out whether there is mutation.
There were 20 suspected outbreaks as of yesterday. The three confirmed outbreaks involved primary schools. On a list of suspected outbreaks are two secondary schools, 11 primary schools and seven kindergarten/child-care centers.
Ahead of the general closure order, four schools, all but one in Yuen Long, decided on their own to stop classes.
The schools are Yuen Long Public Middle School Alumni Association Primary School, AD&FDPOHL Leung Sing Tak School, YLPMSAA Tang Siu Tong Secondary School and Shun Tak Fraternal Association Ho Yat Tung Primary School (PM School) in Tuen Mun.
The Hospital Authority has laid on an extra 547 beds.
The government also released an additional HK$20 million for its frontline medical staff facing extra hours until the end of next month.
Describing the situation as "a surge under control," authority chief executive Shane Solomon said his staff had worked 15,000 hours of overtime, equivalent to hiring 190 full-time staff.
Overall admissions were up 16 percent compared with a year ago.
Solomon said the occupancy rates in pediatric wards has gone up 67 percent in the past week.
Hospitals with occupancy rates in wards of more than 115 percent will reduce non-urgent operations to free up staff. Doctors and nurses who work on their days off will be given an extra 25 percent on top of their normal salary.
Meanwhile, Chow said there was no common factor linking the three children who died in the past month.
Yuen said it was strange for children to have suffered from serious nervous system complications. He said the epidemic is nothing like the SARS outbreak.
Director of Health Lam Ping-yan said officials will consider whether there is a need to have compulsory vaccination for students before the start of the next peak flu season. He stressed that Tamiflu, which requires a prescription, should not be taken before symptoms appear, as it cannot lower the risk of falling ill.
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