STUDENTS and staff at nearly 100 schools and childcare centres across Australia may have contracted hepatitis A from contaminated frozen berries, federal Labor says.
IN Victoria 53 schools and childcare centres have raised the alarm about the health of staff and students.
Another 22 institutions in South Australia and 18 in Queensland may also be affected. “The latest figures are incredibly alarming,” opposition education spokeswoman Kate Ellis told reporters in Canberra. Parents around Australia needed to know from the government how many schools and childcare centres had been impacted, she said. Packets of the contaminated berries were first pulled from supermarket shelves on February 14. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says the government was too caught up in its own infighting to take charge of controlling the outbreak. “We’ve asked the prime minister, not once but twice, how many Australians face the potential of contracting hepatitis A,” he said. “He doesn’t know.” Mr Shorten said it was scandalous that 10 days after the outbreak 100 per cent screening was only just being implemented. Eighteen people have so far been diagnosed with hepatitis A linked to imported frozen berries. Until Tuesday only berries linked to the processor at the centre of the controversy, Patties Foods, were being tested.