The number of swine flu cases in the US topped 10,000 on Monday and the virus spread to all 50 states, as Alaska reported its first (A)H1N1 infection, an official update showed.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 10,053 probable or confirmed cases of swine flu in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, up from nearly 9,000 on Friday.
The CDC also linked two more deaths to the (A)H1N1 influenza virus, bringing the official death toll for the outbreak to 17, which does not include the first death from the disease reported by California state officials on Monday.
The US has the most cases of swine flu of any of more than 50 countries around the world.
Meanwhile, Australia’s swine flu tally soared again to nearly 500 confirmed cases yesterday, just a day after a sudden spike made it the Asia-Pacific region’s worst-affected country.
Victoria Health Minister Daniel Andrews said that 89 new cases had been identified in the state overnight, taking its total to 395. The national count now stands at 496, the fourth largest worldwide.
Australia had only one case of swine flu just a fortnight ago, but the numbers have grown exponentially since the controversial move to let infected passengers leave a luxury cruise-liner last week.
Carnival Australia yesterday warned that another of its vessels had been turned away from the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia because of possible flu cases among its passengers.
Samples from four or five of about 2,000 Dawn Princess passengers will be tested for swine flu before the vessel returns to Sydney on Friday.
In Mexico, Minister of Health Jose Angel Cordova said the government could lift its swine flu alert by the middle of this month, maintaining the death toll at 97 and raising the number of cases by more than 200 to 5,240.
The virus was still on the wane, Cordova said, underlining that the alert for A(H1N1) in the country at the epicenter of the virus could lift in two weeks’ time.
“If we see that cases are appearing only occasionally, then we’ll totally lift the alert,” Cordova said, though he still recommended the use of face masks in busy public places such as the metro.
In its latest report, the WHO said 62 countries had officially reported 17,410 cases of A(H1N1), including 115 deaths.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
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