JEDDAH: Two students are the latest to die of swine flu, the Ministry of Health said Saturday. The victims, both with underlying health conditions, were a 12-year-old boy in Qassim and a 14-year-old girl in the Eastern Province.

Authorities have closed the two schools where the students studied to prevent the spread of the virus.

The ministry said the measures were taken as part of a national strategy to protect people against the H1N1 virus and urged the public to follow safety instructions it had issued earlier to protect against swine flu. It urged parents and school authorities to take students with swine flu symptoms to the nearest hospital urgently.

So far 39 people have died from swine flu in the Kingdom. The ministry said the student in Qassim was suffering from pulmonary inflammation while the one in the Eastern Province was suffering from acute obesity.

Saudi Arabia has taken a series of measures to prevent the spread of swine flu among students. Teachers have been given training on how to handle swine flu cases. The Kingdom had also delayed reopening schools after the summer vacation in order to give teachers and staff adequate time to take precautionary measures.

Hamid Al-Sulami, director of girls’ education in the Makkah province, said swine flu cases had not been reported among students in the province. “We have received only reports of suspected cases and none of them has been confirmed as the H1N1 virus since the reopening of schools,” he said.

According to Dr. Khaled Al-Mirghalani, spokesman of the Health Ministry, most swine flu deaths in the Kingdom were patients with a history of chronic chest and lung diseases. More than 3,500 people in the Kingdom have contracted H1N1 virus and 98 percent of them have recovered.

The ministry plans to open an emergency medical center in Jeddah for treating patients with swine flu.

The center will be part of Bakhsh Hospital on Prince Sultan Road near the Globe roundabout north of Jeddah. It is expected to be ready in two weeks. The 100-bed center will receive and treat cases of H1N1 infections during the Haj season.