Afghanistan shuts schools over swine flu

Afghanistan on Sunday ordered the closure of all schools for three weeks after recording its first death from swine flu.

Afghanistan on Sunday ordered the closure of all schools for three weeks after recording its first death from swine flu, the country's education minister said.

"In order to safeguard the health of all Afghans... all public and private schools will be shut for three weeks" from Monday, Farouq Wardak said in a statement.

The move comes after an engineer from Kabul last week became the first Afghan to die of the (A)H1N1 virus.

There are about 7.5 million students and teachers in Afghanistan, the statement said.

The A(H1N1) virus was first detected in Afghanistan in July among American soldiers stationed at the Bagram military base, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Kabul.

The infections were discovered during a general health check-up among the troops at the base.

More than 5,700 people have died of swine flu worldwide since the virus was first uncovered in April, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday.

Nearly 4,200 of the deaths were recorded in the Americas region, it said.