Singapore Guards Against Swine Flu Outbreak

[des_yeo03]

Singapore will be pro—active in handling possible swine flu outbreak

SINGAPORE: Singapore will take a pro—active stance should the threat of a flu pandemic surface following the swine flu outbreak in Mexico.

Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan also said the SARS epidemic has equipped Singapore with the skills to handle a similar outbreak.

Speaking to reporters at a community event on Sunday, Mr Khaw said the ability of the swine flu virus to spread from human to human makes it especially dangerous, and his ministry is monitoring the situation.

As for the virus spreading to the US, Mr Khaw said it could pose a global threat as the US is well—connected to the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said in a statement it will implement precautionary measures at Changi Airport in light of the outbreak.

From 11pm Sunday, thermal scanners will be deployed to screen passengers on flights arriving from the US. And from 8am Monday, scanners will be deployed at all three arrival halls to screen all arriving passengers.

From Wednesday, scanners will also be deployed at the Budget Terminal and Seletar Airport.

CAAS added that flights in and out of Changi Airport are continuing as normal.

Separately, Agri—Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) said in a statement that there is no danger of people contracting swine flu from eating pork or pork products.

AVA also said it will test all pork imports for the new strain of swine flu virus. It said Singapore does not import pork from Mexico but the country has imported 2,700 tons of frozen pork and other pork products from the US since the beginning of this year.

Singapore only imports pigs from one AVA—accredited farm located on Pulau Bulan, Indonesia. AVA will step up surveillance testing there to ensure the pigs are not infected with the virus found in the current outbreaks.

— CNA/ir

Source (http://sg.news.yahoo.com/cna/20090426/tap-063-singapore-pro-active-handling-po-231650b.html)

[des_yeo03]

Asia steps up fight to prevent swine flu spread

HONG KONG (AFP) - - Asian governments have imposed strict controls to prevent swine flu from sweeping the region, screening air passengers and vowing to quarantine anyone showing symptoms of the deadly virus.

In New Zealand, where nine high school students and a teacher were thought likely to have swine flu after returning from Mexico, authorities were tracking down hundreds of air passengers who may also be at risk.

Health officials in Hong Kong, which was at the forefront of the SARS epidemic in 2003 and has since been on alert for bird flu, said they would detain anyone with symptoms of swine flu after arriving from an infected area.

Along with Singapore, Hong Kong advised against all non-essential travel to worst-hit Mexico, where more than 100 deaths were suspected, while China warned international travellers to be alert for any sign of infection.

Beijing also banned all pork imports from Mexico and parts of the United States, despite health officials saying the current outbreak was being spread by human-to-human contact.

The most common measure being put in place was the use of thermal scanners, which have been a common feature in many Asian airports since the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic six years ago.

In Malaysia, Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said that all travellers arriving from the United States -- where 20 cases have been confirmed in five states -- were being screened.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said the country was well prepared to deal with any new flu outbreak thanks to a plan drawn up during the 2003 bird flu scare, with stocks of anti-flu medication in place.

Japan said it would fast-track efforts to find a vaccine, while one company pulled back the families of staff based in Mexico, travel agencies scrapped package tours and drug stores reported a brisk trade in face masks.

Hong Kong announced some of the toughest measures to ward against an outbreak, warning that passengers arriving from affected areas and showing flu-like symptoms would be quarantined.

"We will take that patient to the hospital and let him stay there and have a test and until the test result is negative, we won't allow him to get out of the hospital," said Thomas Tsang, from the city's centre for health protection.

Airlines were broadcasting messages on selected inbound flights advising passengers to report symptoms such as sudden fever.

In Vietnam, where 56 people have died from bird flu since 2003, airport screening was focused on passengers arriving from North America, the Thanh Nien newspaper reported.

"The city must take immediate measures to prevent and cope with the dangerous disease," Nguyen Van Chau, the director of Ho Chi Minh City's health department, was quoted as saying.

Thailand, which recorded 17 fatal human cases of bird flu between 2004 and the last outbreak in August 2006, also started screening passengers arriving at its main international airport in Bangkok.

In Australia, hospital emergency wards, doctors and border control staff were given guidelines on how to spot the virus, as two people there were cleared of carrying the deadly strain.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon said that all planes arriving from the Americas would be required to report on the health status of passengers before receiving permission to land and that anyone with flu-like symptoms would be quarantined.

Despite the World Health organisation warning at the weekend that the virus had the potential to cause a pandemic, Taiwan Health Minister Yeh Chin-chuan urged the public to remain calm.

"There is no need to panic over the outbreak at the moment. The present situation is like a tropical storm emerging on the other side of the Pacific which poses no immediate threat to people here," he said.

Philippine authorities announced that they were screening passengers arriving from Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York and urged people to avoid hugging and kissing at public gatherings.

Source (http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090427/tap-health-flu-mexico-asia-2a5be5e_1.html)

[Jankdev]

Number of deaths has raised to 149 ppl.

[faraway]

Anyone feels threaten by swine flu here? Now Hong Kong also got it...scary...

[Leslie]

Anyone feels threaten by swine flu here? Now Hong Kong also got it...scary...
I don't really think much about it.

Not that I'm totally unconcerned, but if it's time to go, it's time.

[pikachuw]

my co start taking temperature today.

hope this swine flu will b over soon, bad for the economy!!! :(

[Koo]

the number of confirmed cases to the confirmed death is 0.5% overall, not as deadly as SARS 10%!:thinking:

[MSth08]

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's top health official Friday confirmed the country's first case of Influenza A (H1N1) amid fears that some of those exposed to the infected patient could have gone on to Indonesia.

"I can confirm (that it) is the first case in Malaysia," health ministry director general Ismail Merican told AFP.

Acting health minister Kong Cho Ha, who addressed a hastily-convened press conference later, said the patient was a 21-year-old male student who arrived on a flight from the United States on May 13, giving no further details on his identity.

He said the patient came down with fever, sore throat and body aches the next day and was admitted to the Sungai Buloh quarantine facility in central Selangor state on the same evening and is now in stable condition.

He said five family members who live with the patient have been placed under home quarantine in order to monitor their condition.

The government has urged all passengers who travelled on Malaysian Airlines flight MH091 from Newark in the United States to Kuala Lumpur, that landed at 7.15am on May 13 to contact the ministry for further instructions.

"No passengers have been quarantined, we are still trying to trace them," Kong said of the 199 passengers and crew onboard the flight. "We will segregate them (when located). If they have no signs (of the disease) they can go after a certain number of days," he added.

However, he said there was a fear that some of those exposed to the infected patient may have gone on to Indonesia.

"We mention Indonesia because that flight is a code share with (Indonesian carrier) Garuda so the assumption is that there could be some passengers going to Indonesia," he added.

Officials could not immediately confirm how many Indonesians were on board nor if any passengers continued onto Indonesia.

Kong said Malaysia's alert level would remain the same despite its first confirmed H1N1 flu case as the country was already at its highest state of preparedness since the World Health Organisation raised its flu alert to phase five out of six.

"We have been on full alert," said Kong. "We are on a level of full preparedness."

Malaysia is also pushing for the WHO to get affected countries to implement exit screening in order to stop the spread of the disease amid concerns that a second wave of the H1N1 disease could be deadlier.

"If we can have travellers from affected countries screened before they are allowed to travel out, this will help us to contain the spread of such virus to other places," health minister Liow Tiong Lai told state media before heading off for the 62nd WHO General Assembly in Switzerland from May 18 to 22.

The world health body has not recommended travel restrictions following the outbreak but has advised those who are ill to delay their travel plans and urged returning travellers who fall ill to seek medical treatment.

Health officials could not immediately confirm if Malaysia would be implementing exit screening after confirming its first H1N1 case.

On Tuesday, the government urged its citizens to defer travel to the US, Mexico, Canada, Spain and Britain following reported cases of H1N1 flu in those countries.

Malaysian health authorities have installed 20 thermal scanners at the country's entry points to help detect cases with 9,324 passengers screened so far.

The latest World Health Organisation figures show the number of laboratory-confirmed H1N1 flu cases worldwide is 7,520 in 33 countries. A total of 65 people have died from the disease, most of them in Mexico, WHO figures show.

- AFP/so/ir

credits : cna.com

[Koo]

4 H1N1 cases reported already, I guess more will be infected by the way this flu vrius speads.

[Koo]

As of today there already 8 confirm cases of H1N1 here in Singapore.

[Coeyan]

Flu outbreaks seems to strengthen the world's guard against more powerful strains.