CEBU CITY -- Health officials said Saturday that eight people were added to the list of confirmed cases of influenza A (H1N1) in Central Visayas, three of them students of a university in Mandaue City.
Lawyer Augusto Go, president of the University of Cebu (UC), suspended classes in the UC Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue Campus until June 29, to protect the students.
All 600 students in the same on-campus dormitory where the three students stayed were also placed under quarantine for 10 days. The students receive free lodging and meals, apart from tuition, under a scholarship supported by the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association.
“They will be leading the same lives, but they just cannot socialize for now,” Go said in a phone interview. “No visitors.”
School officials met Saturday with the Department of Health (DOH)-Central Visayas and Mandaue City Administrator Briccio Boholst to map out precautionary measures for the UCLM campus, which has a student population of nearly 10,000.
Classes will proceed as usual in all other UC campuses.
Go assured that before classes opened last June 15, the university’s employees were vaccinated against the seasonal flu. He personally addressed the students Saturday to explain the precautions the university is taking.
With the additional eight, there are now 12 confirmed A (H1N1) cases in Central Visayas, said Dr. Susana Madarieta, Department of Health (DOH)-Central Visayas director.
Madarieta said of the eight new cases in the region, five recently traveled to countries where A (H1N1) cases have been reported, such as the United States. All five are Filipinos and have all recovered after receiving treatment, added Madarieta.
The other three are the UCLM students.
Last week, the three were among a total of seven students who were tested after they suffered from fever and sore throat.
One tested negative. The three others are waiting for their results. However, as a precaution, all seven were treated and quarantined, said Madarieta.
The decision to place about 600 students -- all scholars – under quarantine is consistent with the DOH’s Schools Alert Response Level System (Sarls).
As of now, UCLM is at Level 3. At this level, school administrators are advised to declare a 10-day suspension of classes.
Madarieta discouraged the public against self-medication and warned them against those claiming to have a vaccine for human use against influenza A (H1N1).
All three UCLM students who contracted H1N1 came from Luzon. The scholarship provided by NSA has beneficiaries from all over the country.
DOH-Central Visayas officials asked all the NSA scholars, excluding the seven previously tested, to submit swab samples for lab testing.
With the opening of the testing labs in the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), Madarieta said they can now release results faster since most of the testing is done locally, and no longer in the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).
As of now, Central Visayas has 112 cases under observation (CUOs), with 12 confirmed cases, 63 negative cases and 37 awaiting their test results. Health officials continue to assure that the strain is mild.
Nationwide, DOH announced Saturday that there are already 344 positive cases, and that 262 have already recovered.
Worldwide, more than 39,000 cases have been reported, with 167 deaths, most of them in Mexico and the United States. (JKV/With IDA/Sun.Star Cebu)
