All Hong Kong primary schools, kindergartens closed for two weeks

Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen has announced that all primary and lower-level schools will close for a fortnight.The decision for the two-week closure, effective from tomorrow, was made after a cluster of influenza-like cases at St Paul's Convent School was found to be swine flu infections.The number of cases in the St Paul cluster was also raised to 12 from nine previously.

Authorities were unable to identify the source of the infection, making it the first cluster of human swine flu cases in the city without a known link to those travelling overseas, prompting the closures.Primary schools, kindergartens and nurseries will be closed until the start of the next school year if they are unable to resume school before the end of the current school year on July 10.

The Education Bureau has reached an understanding with principals that special arrangements will be made for Primary Five examinations, a key factor in getting into a good secondary school, if schools have to stay closed until the start of the new school year.

The schools will be closed until June 25 and the bureau will confirm their reopening or announce changes in plans on June 23.Territory-wide System Assessment exams, the Primary Six version of which is used by the Education Department to determine how many places in Band One schools to allocate to primary schools, scheduled for next Wednesday and Thursday have been cancelled.

''Given the global situation, [for] Hong Kong to have its own local cases is simply inevitable,'' Tsang said.''I believe the fellow citizens and the government have done all we can in postponing the arrival of the first indigenous case.'

'The move to shut primary schools rather than secondary schools was made because young pupils are more vulnerable to catching the virus, Tsang said.The closure affects nearly 510,640 students at 1,626 schools, according to enrollment figures from the 2008-2009 school year. There have been around 50 confirmed cases of swine flu infection in Hong Kong, but all the previous cases caught the virus while travelling abroad.

Source is provided by Hong Kong Standard Newspaper.