A Mexican tourist visiting Hong Kong was diagnosed with swine flu yesterday in Asia's first confirmed case of the disease.
Officials ordered a weeklong quarantine of the Metropark Hotel where the 25-year-old man stayed and started tracking down his recent contacts.
The patient, who flew to Hong Kong via Shanghai on China Eastern Airlines flight MU 505, developed a fever after arriving in the territory Thursday afternoon, Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang(曾蔭權) told reporters.
Meanwhile, Mexico started a five-day shutdown of most offices and businesses yesterday to try to halt the spread of a deadly flu strain, and officials said they were encouraged by signs the number of new cases was dropping.
Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said the public hospitals that treat roughly half the country admitted just 46 patients with severe flu symptoms on Thursday, down from 212 patients on April 20.
Mexico, the worst-hit country, has reported 176 deaths from the new strain. Worldwide, 11 countries have confirmed cases of the new strain of the H1N1 virus, with the Netherlands the latest. A further 17 countries were checking possible cases.
The WHO said on Thursday it would call the new virus strain Influenza A (H1N1), not “swine flu,” to appease outraged meat producers since there was no evidence that pigs had the virus or could transmit it to humans.
New confirmed cases were reported in Canada, the US and Europe. Almost all infections outside Mexico have been mild and only a handful of patients have required hospital treatment.
Only one person has died outside Mexico: a toddler from Mexico who traveled to the US.
Worries about the spread of the virus mounted in the US as its H1N1 caseload passed 100, and nearly 300 schools closed in communities across the country. US officials had to spend much of the day reassuring the public it's still safe to fly and ride public transportation after Vice President Joe Biden said he wouldn't recommend it to his family.
“There's not an increased risk there,” said Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“If you have the flu or flu-like symptoms, you shouldn't be getting on an airplane ... but for the general population that's quite fine to do,” he said.
The WHO says it does not know enough about the new strain to say how deadly it is, how far it might spread and how long any potential pandemic may last.
The WHO said yesterday that no meeting of its emergency committee was scheduled, meaning there was no immediate likelihood of the current level 5 alert being raised to a full “phase 6” pandemic alert.
To declare a full-blown pandemic, the WHO would have to be convinced the new virus is spreading in a sustained way among communities in another region besides North America.
Also See: EDITORIAL: The end is nigh, but don't panic
Also See: CDC unveils faster swine flu test
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
‘NARWHAL’: The indigenous submarine completed its harbor acceptance test recently and is now under heavy guard as it undergoes tests in open waters, a source said The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, yesterday began sea trials, sailing out of the Port of Kaohsiung, a military source said. Also known as the “Narwhal,” the vessel departed from CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard at about 8am, where it had been docked. More than 10 technicians and military personnel were on deck, with several others standing atop the sail. After recently completing its harbor acceptance test, the vessel has started a series of sea-based trials, including tests of its propulsion and navigational systems, while partially surfaced, the source said. The Hai Kun underwent tests in the port from
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
RSS