Doctors boarded flights arriving in Japan from North America yesterday to screen passengers for swine flu and China ordered inspections at pig farms, as Asian governments rushed to try to hold back the virus from the continent.
New Zealand waited for final test results on 10 high school students and teachers who officials said were probably swine flu cases and checked 56 other people for possible infection. In South Korea, a 51-year-old woman was listed as a probable case.
No cases of the deadly virus have been confirmed in Asia or Australasia, but officials held top-level meetings about how to respond to a possible pandemic and some were preparing to open emergency stockpiles of antiviral drugs.
PHOTO: EPA
The epicenter of the outbreak remained in Mexico, where swine flu is suspected in more than 150 deaths and nearly 2,000 infections.
Almost 80 cases have been confirmed worldwide, and the number was inching higher. The total includes 50 in the US, six in Canada, one in Spain and two in Scotland.
In Japan, a national headquarters for dealing with new strains of influenza was established, with Prime Minister Taro Aso at the helm, and the public was urged not to panic.
“Citizens should listen to the information provided by the government and not relax their guard, but we hope that people remain composed and act calmly,” Cabinet Spokesman Takeo Kawamura said in Tokyo.
“We are told that the virus is not particularly toxic, but there have been casualties and the government will prepare with the worst case in mind, regardless of how dangerous the virus is,” he said.
Teams of doctors, nurses and government officials were boarding all flights arriving from Mexico, the US and Canada to check passengers for signs of the flu, Health Ministry official Akimori Mizuguchi said.
Across Asia, passengers arriving on flights from North America were being screened at airports using thermal scanners.
Travelers with suspicious symptoms — such as fever, sore throats and aches and pains — were being sent for more thorough medical checks.
China, which has in the past been criticized for being slow and unwilling to release information about disease outbreaks, pledged to strengthen monitoring and inspection and urged prompt reporting of suspected swine flu cases.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) presided over a Monday meeting of China’s Cabinet that issued measures to prevent and control a swine flu outbreak, including the setting up of a system to enable early discovery, reporting, diagnosis and treatment.
“Once a suspected case is found in China, it must be made public in a timely way,” a statement read on state-run CCTV said. “We must be highly vigilant and take strong monitoring and prevention measures.”
The statement said China would also step up inspections of pig farms and slaughterhouses for possible infections.
Health authorities say antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu and Relenza appear to be effective in combating swine flu if the treatment is given early enough.
ASEAN, which started a regional stockpile of antiviral drugs during the outbreaks of SARS in 2003 and, later of bird flu, said the region currently has 1 million courses of antiviral agents ready for a “rapid response.”
“Further efforts will be exerted to mobilize other sources of antivirals if needed,” the 10-member group said in a statement.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
RSS