(Trinidad Guardian) Two schools in Port-of-Spain have been shut down because of several confirmed cases of the chikungunya virus. Sources said that the Newtown Boys’ and Girls’ RC Schools were closed so that Port-of-Spain City Corporation officials could deal with the problem. A school source said close to a dozen students from Newtown Girls’ and Boys’ had complained of flu-like symptoms over the past two weeks and at least four were confirmed cases of ChikV.
The affected students were said to be from the Belmont and Maraval areas. The schools will reopen on Monday. The source said public health inspectors visited both schools on Wednesday and arranged to have them fumigated. “We were advised not to report for duty because the schools will need at least two days to air out so we will be going back to classes on Monday,” the source said.
Asked whether other schools were affected, the official said that was uncertain. “When the health inspectors came they were alarmed at the number of mosquitoes, so they decided to spray today (yesterday). The cycle of spraying is done once a year but this is not sufficient,” the source said. The official explained that some students attending the schools came from as far away as Arima and Chaguanas.
“We are concerned that if a better cycle of spraying is not developed then the virus could be spread to other parts of the country,” the official said. Both schools are on Maraval Road, Newtown. The boys’ school has 700 pupils while 590 students attend the girls’ school.
