School tours to SA go ahead despite flu fears

PARENTAL fears over the A(H1N1) flu had to be allayed at a number of primary schools in Windhoek this week, as the institutions prepared to visit South Africa on educational tours.

More than 100 children from the Elim, Gammams and Van Rhyn schools are off to various locations in Namibia’s southern neighbour this weekend, for a series of educational tours that run over the next week.Parents were hesitant to release their kids, officials at the schools confirmed, given reports of a high prevalence of the A(H1N1) influenza in that country.By Wednesday, the website for the City of Johannesburg reported, a total of 3 400 cases of ‘swine flu’ had been confirmed countrywide. By yesterday, seven people had died of the flu in South Africa.In Namibia the number of laboratory-confirmed cases stood at 22 on Wednesday.’We’ve had a number of worried parents. But we’ve since had two nurses involved with guidance counselling come speak to us, and we haven’t had further issues,’ said Floors Steenkamp, tour co-ordinator of Elim Primary School.The school is sending about 45 pupils to visit areas such as Oudtshoorn and Noordhoek.’One consequence has been that we’ve cut shopping malls from the programme, and we’ll mostly be staying near the mountains and caves (at Oudsthoorn) during the period,’ Steenkamp said.The students and their teachers are set to leave this morning, returning on September 1.The coordinator of the Van Rhyn school tour, Leon Feris, says many of the same measures were taken in preparation for their tour to the South and Western Cape, although with visits to universities in the area over the next week, the risk for them appears to be higher.The school has been advised by the National Health Emergency Management Committee (NHEMC) on what precautions to take, he said. Van Rhyn is sending 63 pupils and eight teachers on tour. They will return to Namibia on September 4.Pupils and teachers of the Gammams Primary School also left for South Africa yesterday.