Lucknow: The UP government has asked all schools in the state not to hold morning assemblies from Wednesday in order to check the spread of swine flu. Principal secretary, health and family welfare, Prashant Trivedi told reporters on Tuesday that an advisory had been sent to all the district magistrates and commissioners in the state asking them to put on hold morning assembly prayers in all private and government schools in view of the swine flu scare. The decision has been taken to check the spread of the disease and ensure that school children do not catch the infection, he said. The schools have also been asked to ask children showing symptoms of swine flu to stay at home. More than 695 cases of swine flu had been reported in Uttar Pradesh till August 13 this year. Official sources said that 21 deaths had taken place due to swine flu.

The state government has already formed district-level rapid response teams, which will consist of a public health specialist, a physician, an epidemiologist, a pathologist and lab technician

“In all the district hospitals of the state, a 10-bed isolation ward has been set up and the state surveillance unit and district surveillance unit are continuously monitoring the swine flu situation. Instructions have also been issued to combat any emergency-like situation pertaining to Influenza A (H1N1),” Mr Trivedi said.

He said that all doctors and para-medical staff posted at the casualty wards and emergency wards who treat patients infected by H1N1, have been vaccinated.