The WHO said yesterday there was no evidence of a bird flu epidemic in China after a fifth person died of the disease this month, but urged caution over the Lunar New Year holiday.
An 18-year-old man succumbed to the H5N1 strain of the virus on Monday, bringing to five the number of fatalities from the disease so far this year in China, compared with just three in the whole of last year.
The number of cases has sparked fears of an epidemic, particularly during this week’s Lunar New Year, as hundreds of millions of families across China reunite around huge feasts that include poultry.
Peter Cordingley, WHO spokesman for the Western Pacific Region, said there was no need for undue alarm.
“What we are seeing is so far within our expectations and broadly matches previous years,” he told reporters. “There is no evidence of an epidemic. Also, the China cases are geographically scattered and sporadic, with no sign of any connection between them.”
Cordingley urged caution during the biggest holiday of the year in China, saying the mass movement of people and poultry brought a heightened risk of humans mingling with chickens.
“[This] is not a situation we are comfortable with, and the increase in consumption of chicken meat presents dangers of people unknowingly handling infected meat,” he said. “Members of the public should take every precaution when preparing chicken meat for the table.”
Health authorities in Hunan ended a week-long quarantine of 157 people who had close contact with the toddler and the teenage boy who died in the province, saying none had developed any flu-like symptoms, Xinhua said yesterday.
So far, 25 people have died from avian influenza in China since the disease re-emerged in 2003, WHO figures show.
Hong Kong yesterday issued a terrotory-wide health alert after China reported the latest H5N1 bird flu human casualty.
Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection responded to the latest death by issuing a health alert yesterday warning people to avoid direct contact with poultry and follow hygiene rules.
It also advised people to consult doctors immediately if they developed fever or flu-like illnesses after traveling to China or other affected areas.
Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong people are spending this week’s Lunar New Year holiday with relatives in mainland China.
Hong Kong saw the first modern outbreak of bird flu to infect humans in 1997 when six people died and eight others fell ill from the H5N1 virus. It has since carried out two massive culls when bird flu was detected in dead poultry.
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS