MANILA, Philippines - An estimated 2.6 million students are expected in school today as classes at all levels start or resume amid health risks posed by Influenza A(H1N1).
The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) appealed to students to take
extra precautions and advised the administrators of colleges and universities nationwide to implement strict measures to prevent the disease from spreading inside campuses.
Yesterday the Department of Health (DOH) confirmed an additional 36 flu cases, bringing to 147 the number of infected persons in the country.
Three of the new cases are foreigners and 20 are males.
Aside from the students, at least 500,000 teachers and employees will also report for work today in 1,726 universities nationwide.
Julito Vitriolo, CHED executive director, said the universities hit by the virus quarantined their campuses during the week-long suspension of classes.
Classes in universities and colleges were either postponed or suspended last week after several schools in Metro Manila announced that their students were infected with the virus.
The unpredictable weather also contributed to the problem, which finally led to the cancellation of classes.
Education Secretary Jesli Lapuz expressed full support for the opening of classes today and emphasized that the campaign against the disease should be centered in the community and not in schools.
In the meantime, Metro police director Chief Superintendent Roberto Rosales ordered an intensified police visibility in the streets, especially in the University Belt (U-Belt) area in Sampaloc to prevent criminals from taking advantage of the opening of classes in the college level.
“We will be in every nook and corner of Metro Manila, especially in the U-Belt. We will see to it that the opening of classes in the collegiate level would be peaceful and orderly,” said Rosales in an interview.
The Metro police director said the deployment of police personnel today would be the same as during the opening of classes in the elementary level last June 1.
He said the National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) was placed on full alert since June 1 and the alert status would remain until the peace and order situation in Metro Manila’s schools and campuses stabilizes in the coming days.
Cloudy, rains, thunder
Meanwhile, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said yesterday most parts of the country would experience cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms this week due to a low pressure area (LPA) off Visayas.
Heavy rains and and floods last week disrupted classes in public schools for several days.
Pagasa administrator Prisco Nilo said the LPA is expected to intensify into a tropical cyclone on Wednesday but it would move towards Taiwan area.
The tropical cyclone would be given the local name “Feria,” he said.
“Rainshowers are expected over Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao today and tomorrow,” Nilo said. “From Wednesday to Saturday, rains would prevail over the western parts of Luzon, including the National Capital Region, and Visayas.”
As of 2 p.m. yesterday, the LPA was estimated based on satellite and surface data at 290 kilometers east of Visayas and is embedded along the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) affecting Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
Nilo said the rest of the country would be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms mostly in the afternoon or evening.
He said light to moderate winds blowing from the southwest to south would prevail over Northern Luzon and coming from the southwest and west over the rest of the country. The coastal waters throughout the archipelago would be slight to moderate except during thunderstorms. – With Helen Flores