Hundreds of schoolchildren in Lija are suffering from gastric complaints, which seem to have originated from a virus, a spokesman for the education department said.

Almost 100 students did not turn up at the state primary school on Thursday, with over 100 also absent yesterday. And during the course of the day, 20 children had to be sent home.

Three children have been hospitalised, the director of operations at the education department, Dr Cecilia Borg, said.

She said it was extremely unlikely that the virus had originated at the school, although an assistant head was also off sick with the same complaint.