HK children stay home after flu-outbreak

Hong Kong: More than half a million school children have been ordered to stay home after a flu-like outbreak killed four children.

Two of the children who died tested positive for influenza A, the Health Department said. It declined to cite influenza as the cause of the deaths. Another two children died after suffering flu-like symptoms, the department said, adding that tests haven't yet confirmed the presence of influenza A.

In 2003, the SARS broke out in Hong Kong, killing 299 people, crippling the territory's tourism industry.

The influenza viruses circulating in Hong Kong this year are predominantly type B and a variant of the type A (H3N2) strain that caused epidemics in Australia last year, including the deaths of three children.