Hong Kong's Department of Health said Monday that it had advised eight primary schools and three secondary schools to suspend classes for seven days starting Tuesday to stop the possible spread of A/H1N1 flu in the schools.

The advice was made following the outbreaks of the special flu in the schools involving 824 students aged between six and 17, a spokesman for the department said.

A total of seven students required hospitalization. All of the affected students are in stable condition, he said, adding that so far, laboratory results showed that specimens of 30 students were tested positive to the virus.

Hong Kong reported 446 newly confirmed cases of influenza A/H1N1 in the 24 hours up to 2:30 p.m. Monday, bringing the number of the city's cumulative cases to 22,500.

Meanwhile, the city reported another fatal case of Influenza A/H1N1, bringing to 16 the total number of fatal cases of the special flu in the city.

Source:Xinhua