ZAMBOANGA CITY -- A school official Thursday confirmed this city’s first influenza A (H1N1) case in a male pupil of Ateneo de Zamboanga University.

University president Fr. Antonio Moreno said the boy had contact with a relative who was found positive of the illness in Manila.

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Moreno said the boy showed signs of A (H1N1) symptoms a week after June 12, the day they returned home from Manila.

The entire family of the boy was subjected to home quarantine last June 22 after laboratory tests confirmed the A (H1N1) virus in the child.
They were given precautionary care by officials of the Department of Health.

Moreno said the boy started attending classes on June 29.

He said local health authorities are doing contact tracing to determine who among the students enrolled in the university had contact with the nine-year-old patient for monitoring purposes.

The incident prompted Moreno to suspend classes at the elementary level of the university starting this Friday, July 3, until July 13.

In Manila, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ended her voluntary quarantine at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Muntinlupa Thursday afternoon.

Arroyo checked in at the hospital Tuesday night, a day after she arrived from her 13-day travel in Japan, the United States, Colombia, Brazil, and Hong Kong -- all A (H1N1)-affected countries.

The President, according to Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, “underwent certain check-ups while on quarantine and all the results were okay.”
 
He said the President left the hospital at 2 p.m. Thursday and proceeded to Malacañang immediately.
 
Arroyo, despite observing quarantine and social distancing for more than a day, continued doing her work even while in the hospital as she brought with her about three bagfuls of documents, other paperworks, and her laptop.
 
Remonde said the President was also in continuous communication with the Cabinet and other officials while in the hospital.
 
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, meanwhile, said the self-quarantine was also good for the President as she was able to take some much needed rest after her foreign travels. (Bong Garcia/JMR/Sunnex)