Nine students whose homes were quarantined after a swine flu outbreak have returned to college.

The Oxford Media and Business School, in St Ebbes, Oxford, sent all its students home last Wednesday after a 19-year-old girl was diagnosed with the H1N1 strain of the virus.

Eight girls and one boy were quarantined in two shared houses in Juxon Street and Walton Well Road, Jericho, and were prescribed Tamiflu after showing swine flu symptoms.

The college reopened on Monday and all pupils are expected to be well enough to attend their graduation tomorrow.

College bursar Jeff Bethray said: “We took the decision to stand them down for two days at the end of last week.

“The official advice is that unless there was some contagion within class groups it’s not necessary.

“But we think it was the correct decision at the time.

“It didn’t affect their studies because we are winding down until the end of the year.”

The 19-year-old girl, who was sent to Dorset, was the only girl officially diagnosed with the virus and she has since recovered and has returned to college.

There have been 29 confirmed swine flu cases in Oxfordshire since the worldwide outbreak.

A nine year old girl became the UK’s third swine flu fatality when she died at Birmingham Children’s Hospital on Friday.