The Health Ministry has ordered a school in Kudat, Sabah to close two classes for a week effective yesterday following the detection of an influenza A(H1N1) case.

h1n1 flu malaysia school children students wearing mask 260609 02 At the same time, the number of A(H1N1) cases in the country breached the century mark with 14 new cases, bringing the total to 105 cases. Yesterday there were only 91 cases.

Health Ministry director-general Dr Mohd Ismail Merican today said of the 14 new cases, one involved a teacher from the school in Kudat while 13 others were imported cases.

Of the 105 overall cases, 90 were imported while 15 others were local transmission. No death has been reported so far.

As for the closure of the two classes at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Abdul Rahim 2 in Kudat, Mohd Ismail said it involved 125 students and teachers who are now placed under house quarantine.

He said that the infection was detected on the 24-year-old teacher who went on a 17-day vacation in Istanbul and returned to Malaysia on June 18.

smk abdul rahim kudat sabah h1n1 flu pandemic 260609 The teacher returned to the school on June 22 and only developed the flu symptoms on June 23.

"The teacher went for a treatment at the Kudat Hospital where he was referred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu. He was confirmed positive for the Influenza A(H1N1) virus yesterday," said Mohd Ismail in a statement issued by the Health Ministry.

Mohd Ismail added that the teacher's family members had been placed under house quarantine as well.

Apart from the closure of the two classes in the Kudat school, no other schools have shown new signs of A(H1N1) infection.

So far the Health Ministry has ordered the closure of four schools involving 2,300 students, teachers and other staff members. The close-order expires on Saturday.

65 discharged from hospitals

Giving the breakdown on the new cases, Mohd Ismail said of the 14 news cases, 10 were Malaysians, three Australians and one Philippine citizen.

And of the 13 imported cases, five involved those who visited Melbourne, London (three), Phuket (two), Manila (one), Istanbul (one) and Singapore (one).

The sole local transmission was the teacher from the Kudat school.

swine flu outbreak 130509 04

He also revealed that with the new cases, the total number of people still being treated stood at 40 while 65 others had been discharged following full recovery.

The patients are placed at Hospital Sungai Buloh (22), Hospital Kuala Lumpur (5), Hospital Pulau Pinang (3), Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah, Alor Setar (1), Hospital Kulim (1), Hospital Tuanku Jaafar, Seremban (3), Hospital Sarawak (1), Hospital Queen Elizabeth Kota Kinabalu (2), Hospital Sandakan (1) and Hospital Sultanah Aminah, Johor Baru (1).

The number of people being quarantined at home is 340 and they are all well, said Mohd Ismail.