Meanwhile, the Taipei City Government said yesterday it was prepared to deal with a swine flu epidemic and prevent the flu from affecting the upcoming Deaflympics and the fall school semester.
Approximately 5,000 athletes will attend the 21st Summer Deaflympics in Taipei, which will be held from Sept. 5 to Sept. 15. The city government has mobilized about 36,000 of the city’s students to cheer for the Games and provide basic assistance to the athletes.
Despite the threat of a swine flu outbreak, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said the Deaflympics would be held as scheduled, adding that the Taipei City Hospital was fully prepared to provide medical service to athletes who developed symptoms or were infected with the A(H1N1) virus.
Chen Wen-shuo (陳文鑠), vice chairman of the Deaflympics organizing committee, said students who were infected with the A(H1N1) virus would not be forced to join the Games.
With 16 kindergartens and summer schools in the city forced to close temporarily because of suspected cases of swine flu, Taipei City Education Department chief secretary Lin Hsin-yao (林信耀) said the department would follow the guidelines from the Ministry of Education to prevent cluster infection among students when the school year begins on Tuesday.
The Ministry of Education’s closure guidelines state that an entire class should be suspended for five days if two or more suspected cases of swine flu occur in the class within three days.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JIMMY CHUANG, MO YAN-CHIH, SHIH HSIU-CHUAN AND CNA
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