Hospital lockdown in the Spice Isle

ST GEORGE'S, Grenada - Health authorities on Thursday restricted access to the main hospital here as they sought to curb panic in light of a reported "unusual" outbreak of flu-like symptoms throughout the country.

The decision to prohibit visits to the main hospital was among new measures implemented to mitigate the effects of Influenza A (H1N1) virus following Wednesday's announcement that three workers at the facility tested positive.

Even immediate family members of patients have not been allowed into the hospital and the Casualty Department has been closed temporarily to allow workers to sanitise the building.

"It is not that the hospital is totally contaminated and we are closing it because of H1N1. We have to protect the patients in the institutions themselves and the more we curtail traffic, it's easier to manage," said Health Minister Ann Peters.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Emma Herry-Thompson outlined the new hospital measures at a news conference on Thursday.

"When you go to the hospital, you would be advised to leave whatever it is that you are bringing with somebody, who we call a runner, who is going to take that item from you and deliver," she said.

"This is all in an effort to ensure that we do not have this extra traffic on the ward and that persons are not coming into the ward infected and therefore infect other persons."

The Health Ministry has reported an "unusual" outbreak of flu-like symptoms throughout the country, and officials have been trying to allay rising fears by appealing to workers and students to stay home if they experience such symptoms.

Schools across the country have been sending home scores of students and at least one secondary school in St George's has been closed for two days to allow public nurses to sanities the compound.

The three new cases announced on Wednesday have brought to six the total number of persons testing positive for the virus in Grenada since July. Health officials said they believed that figure could rise as they awaited more results from the Trinidad-based Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) after conducting a series of random sampling from groups which included an undisclosed number of students. (CMC)