Indonesia said a 27-year-old woman died of bird flu as it prepared to scour the capital for infected poultry, while Malaysia and India expanded the slaughter of chickens to try to contain the H5N1 virus.
Bangladesh and Thailand extended their ban on poultry imports to several more countries, and a UN official in Afghanistan warned that an outbreak in the war-ravaged country was "virtually unavoidable."
International health experts, meanwhile, expressed concern over the unprecedented spread of bird flu from Asia to Europe and Africa.
"We've never seen so many outbreaks of the same virus in so many different regions," said World Health Organization (WHO) spokeswoman Maria Cheng.
"Our concern obviously is that humans could potentially come into contact with birds infected with H5N1, which would mean populations worldwide are potentially at risk," she said.
The H5N1 virus has devastated poultry stocks and killed at least 92 people since 2003, mostly in Asia, and fresh outbreaks have been reported in birds in 14 countries this month.
International health experts say it remains difficult for humans to catch H5N1, but they fear the virus could mutate, setting off a flu pandemic that could kill millions.
Indonesia
Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said his country, which has recorded 19 deaths in the last nine months, could learn from Vietnam, which has largely stemmed new cases thanks to an aggressive slaughtering campaign.
After meeting with Vietnam's Prime Minister Phan Van Khai in Jakarta, Yudhoyono said the communist country, which has tallied 42 human fatalities, had raised "the whole society's spirit to fight" the deadly bird flu.
Initial tests show that a 27-year-old Indonesia woman died of bird flu in the capital on Monday after coming into contact with sick chickens, said Health Ministry official Hariadi Wibisono, who was awaiting confirmation from a WHO-accredited laboratory in Hong Kong.
Though Indonesia has so far resisted mass culls of poultry, citing a lack of funding, officials said they would start testing and slaughtering birds in infected areas of Jakarta beginning tomorrow.
Malaysia
Malaysia, where seven people were under observation at a hospital with flu-like symptoms yesterday, expanded its bird flu watch area to downtown Kuala Lumpur, including the landmark Petronas Twin Towers.
The country recently reported its first outbreak of the disease in more than a year.
Close to 850 chickens, ducks and other birds were killed following house-to-house checks in hamlets near Malaysia's main city, said Mustapa Abdul Jalil, of the Veterinary Services Department.
"The department believes there is no cause for panic," he told reporters.
India, too, was expanding a massive slaughter of chickens yesterday, as top officials tried to reassure the public it was safe to eat poultry products.
More than half a million birds have been killed in Navapur district since the virus was found in samples from some of the 30,000 chickens that had died recently.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique