A SCHOOL in South Oxfordshire has been closed due to a suspected vomiting bug outbreak.

Tetsworth Primary School was shut at 10am on Thursday.

It will remain closed over Christmas until January 7.

Oxfordshire County Council confirmed that staff sickness was behind the closure.

However, the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust said its hospitals had managed to repel the wave of norovirus cases sweeping the country.

Spokesman Stephanie Clark said yesterday it was business as usual at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill Hospital in Headington, Nuffield Orthapaedic Centre, and The Horton in Banbury.

No cases of the bug had been reported, and wards were functioning as normal.

However, health chiefs have warned against complacency.

The South Central Ambulance Service has asked residents who think they or their loved ones have contracted it not to call the service out.

The service comes under huge strain at Christmas as sickness and overindulgence combine to put immense ‘avoidable’ pressure on staff.

SCAS paramedic Matthew Bip said: “The frustrating thing is we are trying to educate people not to simply call 999 with every emergency and it doesn’t always get through.

“We are trying to teach people to be a little more responsible, and that means not calling us out to cases of flu or norovirus.

About 900,000 people in England are thought to have been infected with the highly contagious bug, according to the Health Protection Agency. It causes sickness and diarrhea for up to five days.