The national committee on pandemics has on Monday announced its decision to once again suspend academic sessions despite the flu outbreak reportedly subsiding. 

At a press conference on Monday, Adam Shareef Umar, the Minister of Defence and National Security said this decision was based on low student turnout on the two days that schools had reconvened for. 

He cited parents’ hesitation to send their children to school as the reason for reinstating the suspension on school sessions. 

“Maldivians are lovers of knowledge and education, and we the government truly value instilling these values in our children – schools were opened so students would have to take fewer extra classes to catch up with the syllabus” he said. 

The conference’s panel of speakers further included ministers of foreign affairs, health, and education. 

In a letter, it released on Sunday, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said that the number of patients seeking consultation for flu-related symptoms has lowered, and expressly noted that the flu alert being at level three does not stipulate that schools should remain closed.

The last of HPA’s daily reports on influenza treatment across the nation, posted on Saturday, reported nine more patients that had been positive out of the 24 tested for the strain.  

While the agency has announced that the flu outbreak is now subsiding, another patient has succumbed to the illness, making six fatalities since the outbreak was announced.