Malaysia confirmed its first case of swine flu yesterday, Health Ministry Director General Ismail Merican said.
“I can confirm [that it] is the first case in Malaysia,” he said.
“The patient is a 21-year-old male student who had just returned from the United States on May 13, 2009 and who was down with fever, sore throat and body aches on May 14,” the health ministry said.
“This is the first A(H1N1) flu case found in Malaysia,” the ministry said.
It said the man went into the Sungai Buloh quarantine facility in Selangor state on the same evening and is now in a stable condition.
It urged all passengers who traveled on the Malaysian airlines flight MH091 from Newark, New Jersey, to Kuala Lumpur that landed at 7.15am on Wednesday to contact the ministry for further instructions.
The ministry said it had so far received 11 flu-like cases for investigation with all the patients warded and isolated for monitoring.
“All these cases showed symptoms of flu and had a history of visiting countries infected with the outbreak [but] all their clinical samples had been sent to institute for medical research for lab tests and tested negative,” it said.
Meanwhile, the WHO said the number of confirmed swine flu cases has reached 7,520, rising more than 1,000 in 24 hours. Sixty-five people have died from the virus.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), however, said the number of global cases had topped 7,700 worldwide.
The US reported 4,298 cases, including probable cases, the ECDC said.
In Panama the number of cases rose to 39. Colombia had 10, Brazil and Costa Rica each had eight cases, El Salvador had four, while Cuba had three cases, it said.
New Zealand raised the number of reported cases to nine.
In Europe there were 12 new confirmed cases compared to Thursday, raising the number of confirmed cases to 234.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
A Soviet-era spacecraft plunged to Earth on Saturday, more than a half-century after its failed launch to Venus. Its uncontrolled entry was confirmed by both the Russian Space Agency and EU Space Surveillance and Tracking. The Russians indicated it came down over the Indian Ocean, but some experts were not so sure of the precise location. The European Space Agency’s space debris office also tracked the spacecraft’s doom after it failed to appear over a German radar station. It was not immediately known how much, if any, of the half-tonne spacecraft survived the fiery descent from orbit. Experts said ahead of time
RSS