Australia’s swine flu cases increased to 16 after new infections were confirmed in Victoria state, while South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong also added to their tolls.
Two more people were diagnosed with the virus in Victoria, Australia, the Herald Sun newspaper reported, citing state Health Minister Daniel Andrews. South Korea confirmed four more swine flu cases, increasing its total to 10; Hong Kong’s government confirmed two more cases, bringing the total number of infections in the city to six and Japan confirmed a new case in the city of Osaka.
Confirmed swine flu cases globally total 12,022 in 43 countries, with 86 people killed by the virus, the WHO’s latest tally showed. Still, the WHO said on Friday that the virus would need to be global and show significant harm to people before declaring a pandemic.
The Philippines yesterday reported the nation’s second confirmed case of swine flu in a 50-year-old woman who arrived in the country on May 20 from the US, Philippine Health Secretary Francisco Duque said in a statement on the ministry’s Web site.
Five US citizens and a Vietnamese citizen are among the confirmed cases in South Korea, with the others being South Korean, the nation’s health ministry said. There are three probable cases among passengers who arrived in Incheoen International Airport yesterday via an Asian Airlines Inc flight, it said.
Singapore had two additional swine flu cases for investigation, the city-state’s health ministry said on its Web site yesterday. Of the 42 cases investigated so far, 34 cases have tested negative for swine flu and eight tested positive for the typical seasonal flu strains, the health ministry said.
China had eight confirmed cases of the A(H1N1) flu virus, a statement on the health ministry Web site said.
PLA MANEUVERS: Although Beijing has yet to formally announce military drills, its coast guard vessels have been spotted near and around Taiwan since Friday The Taiwanese military is on high alert and is closely monitoring the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) air and naval deployments after Beijing yesterday reserved seven airspace areas east of its Zhejiang and Fujian provinces through Wednesday. Beijing’s action was perceived as a precursor to a potential third “Joint Sword” military exercise, which national security experts said the PLA could launch following President William Lai’s (賴清德) state visits to the nation’s three Pacific allies and stopovers in Hawaii and Guam last week. Unlike the Joint Sword military exercises in May and October, when Beijing provided detailed information about the affected areas, it
CHINA: The activities come amid speculation that Beijing might launch military exercises in response to Lai’s recent visit to Pacific allies The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said China had nearly doubled the number of its warships operating around the nation in the previous 24 hours, ahead of what security sources expect would be a new round of war games. China’s military activities come amid speculation Beijing might organize military drills around the nation in response to President William Lai’s (賴清德) recent visit to Pacific allies, including stops in Hawaii and Guam, a US territory. Lai returned from the week-long trip on Friday night. Beijing has held two rounds of war games around Taiwan this year, and sends ships and military planes
Five flights have been arranged to help nearly 2,000 Taiwanese tourists return home from Okinawa after being stranded due to cruise ship maintenance issues, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced yesterday. China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) have arranged five flights with a total of 748 additional seats to transport 1,857 passengers from the MSC Bellissima back to Taiwan, the ministry said. The flights have been scheduled for yesterday and today by the Civil Aviation Administration, with the cruise operator covering all associated costs. The MSC Bellissima, carrying 4,341 passengers, departed from Keelung on Wednesday last week for Okinawa,
China is deploying its largest navy fleet in regional waters in nearly three decades, posing a threat to Taiwan that is more pronounced than previous Chinese war games, the Ministry of National Defense said today. Speaking in Taipei, ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang (孫立方) said the scale of the current Chinese naval deployment in an area running from the southern Japanese islands down into the South China Sea was the largest since China held war games around Taiwan ahead of 1996 Taiwanese presidential elections. China's military has yet to comment and has not confirmed it is carrying out any exercises. "The current scale is
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