Almost 50 pupils at a Burnham-On-Sea school have been struck down by the Norovirus sickness bug.
The headteacher of Burnham Infants School, Andrew Marsh, told Burnham-On-Sea.com on Thursday morning (July 16th): “I can confirm that 48 of our 210 pupils have caught Norovirus and are not at school today.”
“The outbreak first started to appear on Tuesday and really hit us yesterday.”
“We contacted The Health Protection Agency, who advised us that we stay open, but reccomended a full clean-up go ahead.”
“We therefore carried out a deep clean of the school overnight and we are open today, but almost a quarter of the pupils are not in.”
“We hope to be back to normal again for next Monday.”
He added that the school is due to break up for its summer holiday break next Wednesday.
A sign was put up outside the school on Thursday morning, as pictured, explaining that a Year 2 assembly had been postponed until next Tuesday due to the outbreak.
A spokesman for the Health Protection Agency told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “Norovirus is the most common cause of infectious gastroenteritis (diarrhoea and vomiting) in England and Wales.”
“The illness is generally mild and people usually recover fully within 2-3 days.”
“There are no long term effects that result from being infected. Infections can occur at any age because immunity is not long lasting.”
