2009-07-03
HONG KONG, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Countries in the Asia-Pacific region kept a close watch on death cases related to the recent A/H1N1 pandemic and stepped up precautions against the disease as the flu case tally in the region was closing on 13,000.
In Australia, Health Minister Nicola Roxon tried to reassure parents of young children that in the majority of cases A/H1N1 flu remains a mild disease, after a three-year-old Victorian boy died a few days ago with the virus.
Roxon told reporters on Thursday that she could not comment on the case because it was being investigated by police and the coroner.
"The death of any child is a tragedy," Roxon said. "I want to assure people that they should not be unduly alarmed."
"This is a serious disease and it can be severe in some people but it is mild overall for most people."
She indicated that for most children A/H1N1 flu was mild and they recovered without any medical intervention.
So far, all 10 people in Australia who have died while having A/H1N1 had an underlying health issue. But Roxon would not comment if the three-year-old boy had other health problems.
On Thursday, the Chinese mainland confirmed one "accidental" death of a confirmed A/H1N1 flu patient.
A 34-year-old woman was found dead at 7:35 a.m. in her ward lavatory at the No. 1 People's Hospital of Xiaoshan District in Hangzhou, capital of east Zhejiang Province, according to local health bureau.
The patient was in a recovery stage as her temperature had been normal for a week. She had occasional coughs, but her other flu symptoms had disappeared.
Local police and health authorities are investigating the cause of her death. It is suspected that electric shock caused her death.
So far in the Chinese mainland, 612 of all confirmed patients have been discharged from hospitals, 296 were being treated in hospitals and six patients were receiving medical care at their homes, the ministry noted.
Nepal came up with new strategic mechanism to contain the virus from spreading after the country confirmed another two cases of influenza A/H1N1 Thursday.
In collaboration with the United Nations children's Fund (UNICEF), the new plan is being adopted to cover media campaign to raise public awareness against the disease.
Recently Nepal is cooperating with United States Agency for International Development (USAID), International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC), UNICEF, Humanitarian Pandemic Preparedness (H2P), Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS), Save the Children Nepal and some local level organization to disseminate information to warn people at community level.
The meeting held between the government and supporting organizations on Thursday concluded to use more television commercials, radio jingles, newspapers and periodicals and printing posters to improve awareness of people.
World Health Organization (WHO) is also assisting Nepal to train manpower to cope with pandemic.
Besides communication, Nepal has strengthened its strategy in dealing with visitors coming from affected nations.
The government has been screening Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in capital Kathmandu since two months ago. Now it intensified its surveillance by moving the health desk that were set up at the immigration office in TIA to the "C" area.
"C" area is the area where passengers first step on after they arrive at airport. The changes has been made fully functioning from Thursday for better monitoring.
Nepal has confirmed five cases of A/H1N1 up to now. The first case of infection in three people was confirmed on June 29 and the patients have recovered.
In New Zealand, the number of influenza A/H1N1 confirmed cases rose to 825 in New Zealand on Thursday, up 114 from 711 on Wednesday, the Ministry of Health said.
About 30 people were now in hospital in the Wellington region, with one in critical condition.
"Testing to identify the exact type of influenza is now being carried out primarily to support the care and treatment of more serious cases or those at risk of more serious illness," said Deputy Director of Public Health Fran McGrath.
McGrath said the reported confirmed case numbers were now only a small proportion of the total number of people with the influenza.
"It is clear that the numbers are increasing rapidly and likely to continue to increase for some months yet. We expect to see many more cases of influenza," she added.
In Cambodia, six people confirmed with A/H1N1 virus in late June have been allowed to go home after receiving treatment, a health official said on Thursday.
"All the six people have good health, and we allow them to go home," said Ly Sovan, deputy director for anti-communicable department of the Health Ministry.
"Our control system is still continuing their work and we are tracking the travelers through airports and border gates regularly," he said, adding that "we still use health declaration forms for all travelers and need their addresses for contacts if we have urgent cases."
Thailand's Public Health Ministry on Thursday announced 83 more patients, who are confirmed to have infected with the A/H1N1 flu virus, bringing the country's total number to 1,556.
Of the total, some 28 patients have remained in hospitals, the website by the Bangkok Post reported.
In a related development, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the government has given priority to containing the outbreak of A/H1N1 flu.
The Health Ministry is working closely with the World Health Organization and seeking further ways to deal with the outbreak.
People should not panic as the outbreak may also hurt the economy, the prime minister warned.
Thailand's death toll from the deadly new virus has remained at five since June 27.
Hong Kong and Macao SARs confirmed 29 new cases and 8 new cases respectively, bringing the total numbers to 857 and 42.
Sixteen A/H1N1 flu cases have so far been confirmed in Bangladesh as seven more cases were detected in the last two days, a senior official said.
He said the patients are all at home now under appropriate treatment and also under supervision of health officials.
Malaysia reported 48 more A/H1N1 flu cases here on Thursday, bringing up the total number of such cases to 244 in the country.
The Brunei Health Ministry on Wednesday detected 24 more cases of A/H1N1 flu, bringing the total number of the case in the country to 66, according to Brunei newspapers.
Vietnam's Ministry of Health confirmed 35 more A/H1N1 flu cases in the country, bringing the total number of flu patients to 166, local newspaper the Liberty Saigon reported Thursday.
In Singapore, the total number of Influenza A/H1N1 cases rose to 878.
With the increase of local cases, Singapore is taking a more targeted and risk-stratified approach in its management of the disease so that hospitals can focus on care for those who are more ill.
Editor: Yan
HONG KONG, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Countries in the Asia-Pacific region kept a close watch on death cases related to the recent A/H1N1 pandemic and stepped up precautions against the disease as the flu case tally in the region was closing on 13,000.
In Australia, Health Minister Nicola Roxon tried to reassure parents of young children that in the majority of cases A/H1N1 flu remains a mild disease, after a three-year-old Victorian boy died a few days ago with the virus.
Roxon told reporters on Thursday that she could not comment on the case because it was being investigated by police and the coroner.
"The death of any child is a tragedy," Roxon said. "I want to assure people that they should not be unduly alarmed."
"This is a serious disease and it can be severe in some people but it is mild overall for most people."
She indicated that for most children A/H1N1 flu was mild and they recovered without any medical intervention.
So far, all 10 people in Australia who have died while having A/H1N1 had an underlying health issue. But Roxon would not comment if the three-year-old boy had other health problems.
On Thursday, the Chinese mainland confirmed one "accidental" death of a confirmed A/H1N1 flu patient.
A 34-year-old woman was found dead at 7:35 a.m. in her ward lavatory at the No. 1 People's Hospital of Xiaoshan District in Hangzhou, capital of east Zhejiang Province, according to local health bureau.
The patient was in a recovery stage as her temperature had been normal for a week. She had occasional coughs, but her other flu symptoms had disappeared.
Local police and health authorities are investigating the cause of her death. It is suspected that electric shock caused her death.
So far in the Chinese mainland, 612 of all confirmed patients have been discharged from hospitals, 296 were being treated in hospitals and six patients were receiving medical care at their homes, the ministry noted.
Nepal came up with new strategic mechanism to contain the virus from spreading after the country confirmed another two cases of influenza A/H1N1 Thursday.
In collaboration with the United Nations children's Fund (UNICEF), the new plan is being adopted to cover media campaign to raise public awareness against the disease.
Recently Nepal is cooperating with United States Agency for International Development (USAID), International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC), UNICEF, Humanitarian Pandemic Preparedness (H2P), Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS), Save the Children Nepal and some local level organization to disseminate information to warn people at community level.
The meeting held between the government and supporting organizations on Thursday concluded to use more television commercials, radio jingles, newspapers and periodicals and printing posters to improve awareness of people.
World Health Organization (WHO) is also assisting Nepal to train manpower to cope with pandemic.
Besides communication, Nepal has strengthened its strategy in dealing with visitors coming from affected nations.
The government has been screening Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in capital Kathmandu since two months ago. Now it intensified its surveillance by moving the health desk that were set up at the immigration office in TIA to the "C" area.
"C" area is the area where passengers first step on after they arrive at airport. The changes has been made fully functioning from Thursday for better monitoring.
Nepal has confirmed five cases of A/H1N1 up to now. The first case of infection in three people was confirmed on June 29 and the patients have recovered.
In New Zealand, the number of influenza A/H1N1 confirmed cases rose to 825 in New Zealand on Thursday, up 114 from 711 on Wednesday, the Ministry of Health said.
About 30 people were now in hospital in the Wellington region, with one in critical condition.
"Testing to identify the exact type of influenza is now being carried out primarily to support the care and treatment of more serious cases or those at risk of more serious illness," said Deputy Director of Public Health Fran McGrath.
McGrath said the reported confirmed case numbers were now only a small proportion of the total number of people with the influenza.
"It is clear that the numbers are increasing rapidly and likely to continue to increase for some months yet. We expect to see many more cases of influenza," she added.
In Cambodia, six people confirmed with A/H1N1 virus in late June have been allowed to go home after receiving treatment, a health official said on Thursday.
"All the six people have good health, and we allow them to go home," said Ly Sovan, deputy director for anti-communicable department of the Health Ministry.
"Our control system is still continuing their work and we are tracking the travelers through airports and border gates regularly," he said, adding that "we still use health declaration forms for all travelers and need their addresses for contacts if we have urgent cases."
Thailand's Public Health Ministry on Thursday announced 83 more patients, who are confirmed to have infected with the A/H1N1 flu virus, bringing the country's total number to 1,556.
Of the total, some 28 patients have remained in hospitals, the website by the Bangkok Post reported.
In a related development, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the government has given priority to containing the outbreak of A/H1N1 flu.
The Health Ministry is working closely with the World Health Organization and seeking further ways to deal with the outbreak.
People should not panic as the outbreak may also hurt the economy, the prime minister warned.
Thailand's death toll from the deadly new virus has remained at five since June 27.
Hong Kong and Macao SARs confirmed 29 new cases and 8 new cases respectively, bringing the total numbers to 857 and 42.
Sixteen A/H1N1 flu cases have so far been confirmed in Bangladesh as seven more cases were detected in the last two days, a senior official said.
He said the patients are all at home now under appropriate treatment and also under supervision of health officials.
Malaysia reported 48 more A/H1N1 flu cases here on Thursday, bringing up the total number of such cases to 244 in the country.
The Brunei Health Ministry on Wednesday detected 24 more cases of A/H1N1 flu, bringing the total number of the case in the country to 66, according to Brunei newspapers.
Vietnam's Ministry of Health confirmed 35 more A/H1N1 flu cases in the country, bringing the total number of flu patients to 166, local newspaper the Liberty Saigon reported Thursday.
In Singapore, the total number of Influenza A/H1N1 cases rose to 878.
With the increase of local cases, Singapore is taking a more targeted and risk-stratified approach in its management of the disease so that hospitals can focus on care for those who are more ill.
Editor: Yan
No comments:
Post a Comment