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n the last few days, hundreds of children and students in Denpasar have contracted influenza.

The administrator of a private school in Denpasar plans to close the school for two days to contain the spread of disease.

The Bali health agency has been closely monitoring the outbreak for any signs of the H1N1 and avian influenza.

Agency head I Nyoman Sutedja said medical staff have been dispatched to several schools reporting high number of flu cases to collect samples.

"The staff have been tasked with collecting random samples from students. The samples will be sent for lab testing to find out whether we have an H1N1 outbreak," he said Saturday, refusing to disclose the exact number of students suffering from influenza.

The information provided by two schools, Cipta Dharma elementary school and Saraswati I junior high school, shows the number was high.

In Cipta Darma, a prestigious private school where a large number of Denpasar's wealthy families send their children, more than 200 students were reported as having caught the flu.

"At least 18 percent of our 1,138 students have contracted the flu," the school principal Ni Nyoman Mulyathi said.

"It spreads so quickly that we had five to 10 sick students in each class in no time," she added.

To contain the spread, Mulyathi said she would close the school on Monday and Tuesday, giving sick students a chance to get better at home.

Mulyathi said she had no idea where the outbreak originated from. Yet, she confirmed several students had just returned from holidays in Singapore and the UK, two countries with confirmed H1N1 cases.

Meanwhile, Saraswati I principal AA Adnyani confirmed a large number of students and teachers had contracted influenza, including herself.

"We don't have the exact number but we have asked the parents to keep their sick children at home to prevent the flu from spreading."

Sutedja said the current weather, characterized by high humidity and strong winds, has contributed to the spread of influenza. The common flu shares similar symptoms with the H1N1 and avian flu, making the job of monitoring an outbreak of H1N1 flu more difficult for health officers.

"If the number of students contracting the flu keeps increasing significantly, we will close all schools in Denpasar," he added.

The agency will also organize a series of campaigns to educate the public on basic DIY treatments for flu patients, including for the ones with H1N1.

"Because we simply cannot send them all to isolation wards in hospitals," he said.