Vacation in schools extended, university students to be freed from lectures as well

The students will not return to classes on Monday, November 9. The vacation in schools was extended by one week. The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education will issue today an ordinance, recommending the rectors to give the university students a week's vacation too. The kindergartens will continue work, but the parents will be asked not to take the children to them. These are some of the measures taken by the Government to stop the spread of pandemic flu, Info-Prim Neo reports. In an informative note to the executive, Minister of Health Vladimir Hotineanu says that 235 persons with different symptoms consulted the doctor by Wednesday evening. 42 cases turned out to be cases of pandemic flu, while the rest – acute viral infections and seasonal flu. “All the persons diagnosed with pandemic flu returned from abroad. Yet, the virus was also detected in three of the 11 students of the informatics college who sought medical assistance. Cases of pandemic flu were also reported at the high school “Mihai Eminescu” and at certain universities. Fortunately, these are sporadic cases and the weekly epidemiological indicators in Moldova are lower than 50 cases per 100,000 people. We must correctly inform the society,” Hotineanu said, addressing the journalists attending the Government's meeting. The official said that the incorrect press reports arouse panic among the people and this leads to shortages of medications in drugstores and speculations in drugs. He stressed that all the medical institutions are on the alert. Hotineanu also said that the situation in Ukraine has worsened. More than 200,000 cases of pandemic flu have been recorded there. The number of deaths in Cernauti, Vinita, Odessa and other Ukrainian regions close to Moldova has increased. The number of reported infections in Romania is also on the rise. The Government decided that residents of the University of Medicine and possibly last-year students will be sent to the over 300 villages that do not have medical units. Mobile teams of doctors will be created on Saturday and Sunday. They will examine the residents of these and other villages free of charge. As many as 500,000 shots of tamiflu, which is used to treat pandemic flu, will be purchased the coming days from a Swiss company. They are enough to treat 15% of the population, namely the vulnerable groups of people. There will be also bought 10,000 shots of zinamivir. A sum of 54 million lei of the 70 million lei earmarked for prophylaxis measures in the mandatory health insurance funds will be spent on these drugs and on disinfectants and masks, Info-Prim Neo report