The swine flu death toll has more than doubled from 20 last week to 44, while the total number of confirmed A(H1N1) flu cases has rocketed to 6,776, the Public Health Ministry reported on Wednesday. Health deputy permanent secretary Paichit Varachit said 6,697 patients had recovered. Thirty-five others remained in hospitals and seven of them were in critical condition.

Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai said he had instructed provincial governors, doctors and nurses nationwide to implement more stringent measures to curb the A(H1N1) flu outbreak. “Provincial authorities need to educate people about the disease and ways to protect themselves from being infected so they do not panic,” Dr Witthaya said. Government officials and employees of state enterprises with flu-like symptoms can rest at home without having to get medical certificates, and they would not lose their holidays and other benefits, he said. “Thailand’s ranking in the number of swine flu cases and fatalities has not really risen to fourth place, as other countries have stopped reporting on the flu situation,” the minister said. He also expressed his concern for people who go to watch the friendly soccer match between Thailand and Liverpool on Wednesday evening. People with flu symptoms should definitely not go to the game, he said. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the government will fine-tune and increase measures to combat the swine flu outbreak. The number of confirmed infections increased considerably last week as the virus had spread quickly throughout the country, especially in the North and Northeast, he said. “We must deal with the situation more quickly by having tougher measures to slow down its spread,” he said. Academics had predicted the new flu strain might infect up to 40 per cent of the world’s population, he said. “People should not panic if the Public Health Ministry announces that the number of H1N1 cases has soared to almost 50,000,” the prime minister said. Interior Minister Chavarat Charnveerakul said he had ordered provincial governors to coordinate with health and other agencies in  setting up swine flu prevention centres in their provinces. He believed the swine flu outbreak would start to ease next month.

75,000 Brits could die of H1N1

LONDON – HEALTH officials say another 12 people in Britain have died of H1N1 flu and as many as 75,000 people could eventually be killed by the disease. The number is based on estimates that 1 in 3 people will get infected with the virus. But because there is no accurate way of predicting how many people will die from H1N1 flu, the numbers are speculative. Sir Liam Donaldson, Britain’s chief medical officer said the number could be anywhere between 3,000 and 75,000 deaths.

The World Health Organisation has previously estimated that 2 billion people worldwide could catch H1N1 flu. For most people, the virus is mild and no treatment is necessary. In its weekly H1N1 flu update, Britain’s health agency estimated there were 55,000 new cases of H1N1 flu last week and another 12 deaths, bringing the total number of British deaths to 29. France and Portugal recently announced major orders for vaccines against the A(H1N1) virus, soon after Latin American countries expressed concern that their poorer region could miss out, despite being worst-hit by the pandemic. Britain has also ordered 132 million doses of a flu vaccine: enough for 60 million people. — AFP, AP

SOURCE :

http://www.straitstimes.com

July 17, 2009

What are the symptoms of H1N1 (Swine Flu).

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