The death toll in the swine flu pandemic has passed the 1,000 mark, with 1,154 deaths since the outbreak was uncovered in April, data published yesterday by the WHO showed.
Swine flu now reaches 168 countries and territories, the WHO said in its latest update on its Web site.
As of last Friday, Azerbaijan, Gabon, Grenada, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Monaco, Nauru, Swaziland, and Suriname were added to the ranks of countries reporting laboratory confirmed cases of influenza H1N1.
A little more than a week ago on July 27, the WHO reported 816 deaths around the world.
The total number of laboratory confirmed infections worldwide reached 162,380, but the figure understates the full number since indvidual cases no longer have to be tested or reported.
Most of the deaths — 1,008 —- have occurred in the WHO’s America’s region, encompassing North and South America and including Mexico and the US, the countries where the H1N1 pandemic strain first appeared.
Sixty-five deaths were reported in the WHO’s regional office for South East Asia and 39 in its Western Pacific region since the outbreak began. Forty-one were reported in Europe.
By comparison, seasonal flu causes about 250,000 to 500,000 deaths a year, and results in between 3 million and 5 million cases of severe illness, the WHO said.
Meanwhile, Thai health authorities yesterday announced 16 more swine flu fatalities in the week up to Sunday, bringing the country’s death toll to 81.
Malaysia’s health ministry yesterday confirmed that four people infected with swine flu have died, raising the country’s toll to 12.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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