Image via WikipediaBANGKOK, Thailand — Swine flu spread to the remote South Pacific island state of Samoa and confirmed infections spiked by 50 percent in Thailand on Tuesday as cases mounted across the region.
New Zealand reported 28 new cases, matching its biggest jump in cases in a single day. China reported 41 more, while Hong Kong shuttered its third high school — the Australian International School — as a precaution after two students caught the virus.
The Philippines confirmed 54 more cases, bringing its total to 247.
Health authorities are predicting swine flu will spread further. The World Health Organization declared it a pandemic last week.
There have been no fatalities reported so far in the Asia-Pacific.
Thailand's Public Health Ministry confirmed 109 new cases, the largest jump in a single day since the country's first case was confirmed in May. Eighty-four of the new cases are students.
Thailand now has 310 confirmed cases, none critical.
The Education Ministry has ordered the closure of 14 schools for a week to block the spread of the flu, said senior health official Prat Boonyavongvirot, adding that the schools have undergone disinfecting in recent days.
WHO warned that Pacific island countries were particularly vulnerable to flu pandemics, after Samoa, with a population of 220,000, confirmed its first case, a visiting Australian student. About 30 other students and six motel staff are in quarantine with suspected swine flu in the capital, Apia.
The students are from Melbourne, the city hardest hit in Australia, which has confirmed over 1,800 cases nationwide.
"The Pacific Island countries are the most vulnerable countries in the world for influenza, we know that from previous pandemics," WHO medical officer Dr. Jacob Kool told Radio New Zealand International.
He said surveillance in each small South Pacific nation has to be at an optimal level and health authorities should be ready to deal with the illness once it reaches their country.
Samoa is a group of islands about half way between Hawaii and New Zealand.
Samoa's director general of health, Palanitina Toelupe, said there was no cause for alarm although Samoa had only 1,500 courses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu. She said they expected to get another 3,000 from WHO.
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, authorities closed the city's Australian International School — the territory's third secondary school to be shuttered — for two weeks after two students there tested positive for swine flu.
The territory reported 14 new infections, bringing its total to 118.
Thomas Tsang of the Center for Health Protection said it was the largest jump in cases in a single day, signifying that the virus is getting a foothold in the city.
China, which records cases on the mainland separately, reported 41 more, bringing its total to 226.
New Zealand reported 28 new cases, equaling its biggest jump in cases in a single day since swine flu was first confirmed in late April. It raised the country's total to 99.
The Philippines confirmed 54 new cases, raising its total to 247, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said.
He said the increase "doesn't mean things are getting worse" because all the new infections were mild.
WHO said that as of Monday, 76 countries have reported nearly 36,000 cases of the virus, with 163 deaths worldwide. Mexico and the United States have been hardest hit. - AP
From GMANews.tv; see the source article here.
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