If a bird flu pandemic ever strikes, Thailand, Vietnam and China would likely be the epicenters and the hardest-hit economies would probably be Hong Kong, Singapore and China, a research report said yesterday.
The report issued by CLSA -- a Hong Kong-based brokerage, investment banking and private equity group -- said that the public and investors were not focused on bird flu, even though it has devastated the poultry industries in some Asian nations.
``The epicenter for emergence of a pandemic strain, if it occurs, is most likely to be in Thailand, Vietnam or China,'' the report said.
The document said that its prediction was based on the number of outbreaks in birds, human infections, poultry density and public-health resources in those nations.
Since January last year, about 70 people, primarily in Vietnam, have contracted bird flu and 48 people have died of the disease in Southeast Asia.
Hong Kong, Singapore and China face the greatest economic risk from any pandemic, said CLSA, a unit of France's Credit Agricole.
RSS