Hong Kong government officials were considering Wednesday whether to close all schools as a flu outbreak worsened, infecting hundreds of children and shutting down a second school, according to dpa. Ho Yat Tung Primary School on Tuesday was shut down early for Easter after a 7-year-old boy died of a respiratory illness and about 40 other pupils fell ill with the flu. On Wednesday morning, about 100 pupils at another primary school in the city's Yuen Long district fell ill with the flu, and the school also decided to close early ahead of next week's scheduled holiday. Health Secretary York Chow said Wednesday that the government would monitor the flu outbreak over the coming days before deciding whether all schools in the city of 6.9 million should be closed. The school closures are the first in Hong Kong since the 2003 outbreak of the flu-like SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which killed 299 people, infected 1,755 and led to widespread panic across the former British colony.
