In an update to yesterday's announcement, a second recruit in the same training wing at the Royal New Zealand Police College in Porirua has tested positive for the H1N1 virus or swine flu. The second recruit is a woman aged 30 has been in isolation at the College and is recovering well.
Yesterday the College moved to postpone new courses due to start this week in an effort to minimise the number of people who will ultimately be affected by the virus. Staff are working with Public Health to identify any other recruits who may have flu-like symptoms or had direct contact with the sick recruits. At this time approximately 50 people have been placed in isolation for one or other of those reasons.
Police national manager of training Superintendent Mike Wilson says that the College is part of the nationwide effort to try to minimise the spread of the virus while it is in the early phases.
Superintendent Wilson says, "We've had instances of whooping cough and norovirus in the past which present similar challenges and my team are very professional in the way they are handling this and providing any ongoing support to our staff who are understandably worried too."
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