A medical worker posts a notice about H1N1 preventive measures at the Lomonosov High School in Hanoi.

Influenza A (H1N1) has spread to the first high school in Hanoi and the second office building in Ho Chi Minh City as 56 new cases were confirmed Friday in Vietnam.

He was in stable condition while eight other students, including Nguyen The Dai, who sat next to Duong in class, had symptoms of fatigue and fever and were under quarantine.

The Tu Liem Center for Preventive Health sprayed decontaminants at the school Friday.

School principal Le Tien Dung said administrators had bought 500 medical face masks for students and had received another 100 from the center.

The school also delayed two events Friday, including a farewell ceremony for summer school students and a teachers’ committee meeting.

Dung said classes would not be canceled.

In Ho Chi Minh City, a male employee working at the Citilight Tower office building on Vo Thi Sau Street in District 1 tested positive for H1N1 Friday.

Local health authorities said he had caught the virus after contact with an employee at the PetroVietnam Tower who had tested positive for H1N1, also known as swine flu, last Wednesday.

The newly-infected employee was under treatment and quarantine at the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases, while around 40 people that had been in contact with him were being monitored.

The Ministry of Health said the 56 new H1N1 cases Friday had raised the country’s tally to 850, without any deaths so far.

Among the new cases were 45 in the south, six in the north, four in the central region and one in the Central Highlands.

The ministry also said 452 people had been discharged from hospitals after full recovery.

Quarantine lifted

Health authorities have lifted a quarantine on 79 employees from the Viettel Telecom Building in Hanoi and removed a temporary clinic at the Ngo Thoi Nhiem Private High School in HCMC.

Last Saturday, a Viettel employee tested positive for H1N1, making the 17-story tower the first office building in Hanoi to record an infection.

79 employees worked on the same floor as the patient. The floor was reopened for normal business at 5 p.m. Friday.

In Ho Chi Minh City, the Department of Health and the District 9 Preventive Health Agency sprayed decontaminants at the Ngo Thoi Nhiem Private High School Friday as they removed a temporary clinic there.

The clinic, which was set up on July 19 after several students and teachers had tested positive for H1N1, was used for treatment and quarantine.

Sixteen students quarantined there were released on Thursday.

Pham Thi Thuy Vinh, the [Ngo Thoi Nhiem] school principal, said 74 of the 91 quarantined at the temporary clinic had been infected with the H1N1 virus.

She also said the school would set aside two rooms to quarantine students if they showed suspicious symptoms of H1N1 flu in the coming school year.

Anti-flu mask rush

Nguyen Van Kinh, head of the National Institute for Hygiene and Epidemiology, said Friday a normal mask would have the same effect in preventing the spread of H1N1 as medical mask in most situations.

The statement was made following community-level outbreaks that have fanned widespread fears among residents who have been rushing to buy medical masks nationwide this week.

The demand has pushed the prices of medical masks up seven times their normal levels, while many wholesale suppliers and pharmacies have run out of stock, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported Friday.

Some facilities only sold limited amounts per person.

Kinh said residents could wear normal masks on the streets, while a medical mask was only required for people visiting the infected zones.

Source: Thanh Nien