Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today said the government will not shut down all schools in the Klang Valley in the face of rising A(H1N1) influenza cases.

najib tun razak 220509 He said the government does not want to cause panic by shutting down all schools.

"If we close down schools, it will create panic among the population. On the other hand, we have to ensure stringent measures so that we can control the spread of the flu," he told reporters today.

"I would say closing down schools would be one of the last stringent measures we would take. It's not something that we won't do, but we will close down schools if other measures do not work."

Malaysia has so far recorded 80 cases. The government has closed four schools in the Klang Valley for a week after students came down with the flu.

Three other schools have each been ordered to close a class for a week for the same reason.

h1n1 swine flu affected schools 230609 Meanwhile Health Ministry director-general Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said that there had been a 400 percent increase in the number of cases in a week because one or two undetected cases had sparked off local transmission.

"Last week, we had only 21 cases with one local transmission, but this week we have 80 cases with 11 local transmissions. This also means that we have a gap in the detection system.

"This rapid increase is due to those coming into the country not being truthful to us. Those who think they have the symptoms should be truthful. This applies especially to people coming from overseas from the affected countries," Bernama quoted him as saying.

High-risk passengers to be scanned twice

As a result, he said, the government will be enforcing more stringent checks at the country's international airports to detect Influenza A(H1N1) in incoming passengers.

Mohd Ismail said that from today, all travellers must complete a health alert card on inbound flights and hand it to the health authorities before proceeding to Immigration clearance.

swine flu pandemic thermal scanner image 150509 He also said passengers from the Philippines, the US and Australia will be scanned twice - when they alight from the aircraft and again before they reach the Immigration counter.

"We advise those coming from these countries to undergo self-quarantine for a few days before starting their normal routine," he said.

Influenza A(H1N1) has so far affected 99 countries, infecting 53,110 people and killing 232.