SUNGAI BESAR, MALAYSIA - Four teachers and 143 students from SM Agama Simpang Lima have been put in isolation after 13 of their schoolmates were admitted to hospital for viral influenza.

Those now quarantined in the school hostel would be getting round-the-clock medical attention from five doctors stationed there.

The outbreak started on Jan 24 with 10 students from the boarding school showing symptoms like blocked nose, cough and high fever.

However, they were allowed to return to their hostels after receiving outpatient treatment at the clinic in nearby Sabak Bernam.

Deputy Education Minister Datuk Noh Omar said more students started showing symptoms of the influenza soon after and 13 had to be admitted to the Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital.

He said the state Health Department checked the school grounds on Tuesday and set up a 24-hour operations centre at the school with five doctors and other medical personnel to monitor the sick.

The four teachers are under isolation in their own homes.

The school, offering classes from Form 1 to Form six, has 647 students of whom all, except for 111, live in hostels on the school grounds.

Noh assured the parents the children were well looked after and asked them to call, not visit, to get updates.

"Please leave your children here for now so that they can seek immediate medical attention if symptoms start to show," Noh told a press conference at the school here yesterday.

He said classes would continue as usual for those who were not infected.

Many parents had initially panicked following rumours of an avian flu outbreak and a small crowd of them gathered at the school gate on Tuesday night.

The fears arose following a cross-country run last Thursday that took students through a poultry farm near Pantai Sungai Nibong.

Noh said initial checks showed no signs of avian flu.