France - health

French to close schools if swine flu strikes

Article published on the 2009-08-12 Latest update 2009-08-12 14:05 TU

French education minister Luc Chatel

France’s minister of education Luc Chatel was quoted by French daily Le Figaro  as saying that should there be a complete pandemic of the AH1N1 virus, he would readily close all the schools in France.

“No threshold has been fixed for closing a school. It will be adapted on a case-by-case basis,” he said.

Over the summer, authorities have asked students who were forced to stay at home to keep up with their schoolwork with distance learning materials involving television, radio and the Internet.

So far France has recorded thousands of cases of swine flu infections and one death. Authorities are worried that the spread of the virus will accelerated when the school year resumes in September.

Chatel also said that mass vaccination of children was not yet being considered.