Minister of Health Chen Zhu is confident that Hong Kong's Department of Health will handle the seasonal influenza situation properly, and said class suspension in Guangdong province is unnecessary at the moment.

Ports of entry should adopt effective inspection measures in checking the health condition of mainland schoolchildren who attend schools in Hong Kong, he added.

On Friday, over 100 chickens were found dead in a wet market in Guangzhou, and the Bureau of Health of Guangzhou Municipality closed the market for sterilization and culled all the chickens inside.

Hospitals in the province said the recent admission rate due to influenza was similar to that in last year so there was no sign of a flu epidemic.

Zhong Nanshan, director of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases, worried that the chance of a virus mutation due to cross-infections between humans and poultry may become higher after the mysterious deaths of the chickens.

He suggested more effective communication between Guangzhou and Hong Kong to exchange information concerning the flu outbreak.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health has received reports of three influenza cases with laboratory evidence on Thursday.

Among them, an 8-year-old girl has been discharged from hospital. Another 7-year-old girl has also returned home from hospital but follow-up is needed in her case.

The 3-year-old boy whose case was announced earlier is still staying at Princess Margaret Hospital and in stable condition.

Paul Chan, a member of the expert group the government appointed to probe into the recent deaths of three children who exhibited flu-like illnesses, said it is believed that the cause of death of the 2-year-old boy in Prince of Wales Hospital (PWH) was viral myocarditis, not flu infection.

As for the 3-year-old girl who died in Tuen Mun Hospital, Chan said the investigation is expected to take two months to finish.

He added that the recent number of children admitted in PWH soared about 30 percent when compared to the same period last year and the cases of influenza B surpassed that of influenza A.

Children are particularly vulnerable to influenza B if the virus mutated, as their immunity is relatively weak , Chan said.

Meanwhile, Secretary for Food and Health York Chow said on a radio program that the government is considering spending about HK$100 million to provide influenza vaccinations for children aged 12 or below

Chow said the government's decision to suspend classes in kindergartens and primary schools was correct. But he reiterated that the measure is unnecessary in secondary schools.

He believed class suspension could reduce the chance of cross-infections among children and avoid creating panic and chaos.

"I am aware of some of the criticisms over the decision. Yet it doesn't matter if the measure can save the kids' lives," Chow said.

On Wednesday night when he announced the class suspension, he did not mention the death of a 21-month-old boy who had shown flu symptoms. The secretary explained that the only information he had at the time of the announcement was that the boy was tested negative for influenza.

Chow estimated that the spread of influenza would slow down by the end of April. He added whether to extend the class suspension after the Easter holidays would depend on the situation at that time.

(HK Edition 03/15/2008 page1)