The city's government Friday shut down all primary schools, kindergartens, special schools and childcare centres after the first local cluster of human swine flu was discovered in a secondary school.

But despite the dramatic action, the city's residents carried on as usual -- even if they were saddled with the extra childcare duties.

Lau Kin-fai, who owns a pharmacy in the city's Wanchai district, said sales of protective masks had not increased, as most people had stocked up when the first carrier, a Mexican man, was confirmed around six weeks ago.

"People bought more when there was the first confirmed case, but not now, they've bought all they need," the 34-year-old told AFP.

When the first case was discovered, the government -- mindful of the deadly SARS outbreak in 2003 that killed around 300 people in the city and spread globally -- quarantined a city hotel with several hundred guests inside.

Measures at the city's ports, including temperature screening and health declaration forms, were stepped up at the time and remain firmly in place.

Buttons in lifts and on cash machines are still covered in plastic which is regularly replaced or cleaned.

Protective masks, often a surprising sight for overseas visitors, remain a common feature on the subway, but there has been no sharp increase in their use.

Kevin Ku, a supervisor at a mobile phone store, said he was not worried about the threat of A(H1N1), which has killed around 140 people since February, mainly in Mexico and North America.

"Not many people are dying, they just feel ill. SARS was different," said the 36-year-old.

SARS remains a powerful collective memory in Hong Kong.

The city became a virtual ghost town during the deadly virus, which was much more lethal than the current virus appears to be. Entertainment districts and flights into the financial hub were empty for weeks.

But while people are not similarly afraid, some are frustrated at the decision to close the schools.

C.S. Wong, a retired 63-year-old, took his four-year-old grandson on his normal trip to the wet market after the youngster was stopped from going to his kindergarten.

"I don't think we need to close schools altogether. If it's in a secondary school, then close the secondary school," he told AFP.

"I think we only have to close primary schools and kindergartens when it (the flu) is spreading there.

"It's really a mess now... many parents need to work and have no time to take care of the children."

Lo Wing-lok, an infectious diseases expert and longtime critic of the government's aggressive measures, said shutting down the city's primary schools had been unnecessary.

"I think it is something done to show that the government has been doing everything possible to curb an outbreak, but I don't think it's reasonably based," he told AFP, adding that washing your hands remained the best defence against the virus.

Hong Kong authorities have defended the hotel quarantine and the school closures as measures that will delay and limit the spread of the virus.

Thomas Tsang, controller of the Centre for Health Protection, said it was not yet clear how the flu would develop, especially during the summer season. "We should be very vigilant," he told reporters Friday.

The World Health Organization has declared swine flu the first influenza pandemic in 40 years, but described the virus as "mild" and stressed people should not panic.

The latest WHO figures show that the number of reported A(H1N1) infections has reached 29,669 in 74 countries, including 145 deaths.

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