By Jessica Jaganathan

ALL first-year students and several staff members of Republic Polytechnic have been told to stay away for seven days from today, after nine cases of H1N1 were confirmed there.

The move affects 4,500 students and 16 teachers and makes the polytechnic the first to adopt Ministry of Education measures aimed at preventing mass local transmission of the flu virus.

After two sick students surfaced at the Woodlands polytechnic on Monday, their classmates and teachers were told to stay away. Three classrooms were shut and thoroughly disinfected.

For more The Straits Times stories, click here.