School vacations in the Siberian city of Tomsk will be extended by almost two weeks due to the threat of an outbreak of flu or SARS, a deputy mayor said on Saturday.
The winter break was due to end on Tuesday but Alexei Balanovsky, the deputy mayor for social policy, said classes would now resume on January 24.
"The decision to extend school holidays until January 23 has effectively been taken - de jure, we will make it official on Monday. This is in connection with excessive levels of influenza and SARS. If you now gather children together at school, the situation could deteriorate," Balanovsky said.
Last year, the Tomsk region registered 397 cases of the virus H1N1, commonly known as swine flu. Four pregnant women died of pneumonia, which doctors said was a complication of swine flu.
"There are a lot of flu cases in Tomsk, including of swine flu, but they are not as severe as last year," Balanovsky said.
The regional branch of Russian sanitary watchdog Rospotrebnadzor says the incidence of influenza and SARS in the region has remained high in recent weeks.
TOMSK, January 8 (RIA Novosti)
