Two more die of A(H1N1) virus in Thailand

BANGKOK, July 9 (TNA) — Two more patients of Influenza A (H1N1) have died in Thailand, bringing the total number of fatalities to 14, Permanent Secretary for Public Health Dr. Prat Boonyawongviroj said Thursday.
 
Dr. Prat said the 13th victim was a 45-year-old  man who was sent to a Bangkok hospital on Sunday after developing a high fever. He died the following day.
 
The 14th victim was a 17-year-old high secondary female student with a weak lung. She was admitted to hospital in the northeastern province of Maha Sarakham Friday and died Tuesday, he said.
 
Earlier in the day, Minister of Public Health Witthaya Kaewparadai announced that a 52-year-old traffic police officer was succumbed to the new virus strain.
 
The victim earlier underwent a kidney tranplant and was on medication to treat an allergy, said the Minister.
 
In an attempt to contain the new virus strain, all hospitals supervised by the public health ministry are now offering a one-stop service to screen patients with flu symptoms and to prevent the possible spread of influenza type A(H1N1).

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told a press conference after Cabinet met on Thursday that tutorial schools are ordered to close for two weeks from July 13-28 to prevent the spread of the Influenza A(H1N1) among students.
 
“This measure is aimed to cut the cycle of the outbreak,” he said. “Most of the new infections are students,” he said.
 
The prime minister said computer game shop owners were asked to cooperate in the campaign to prevent the spread of the new flu by closing their shops during the same period.
 
The fatality rate of the new flu in Thailand was recorded at 0.4 per cent, not different from the ratio in other affected countries.
 
The spread of the new virus strain won’t affect the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers meeting set for later this month in Thailand’s Andaman Sea resort of Phuket, he said.
 
Meanwhile, tutoring schools agreed to close for two weeks if the Public Health Ministry had statistics to show the spread of Influenza A (H1N1) occurred in tutoring schools, according to the tutoring school association chairman, Anusorn Sivakul.
 
Mr. Anusorn said the Ministry of Public Health has neither provided information nor asked for cooperation on measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
 
The association chairman added that tutoring schools’ prevention measures for Influenza A (H1N1) and sanitation protection have been done according to information received from the news media.
 
“We have been blamed by society (which is saying) that we’re the cause of more infections. We want the Public Health Ministry to study (acquiring the virus infection) on a case-by-case basis, clearly find a pattern of those infected with the virus and persons who have had  contact with them in order to conclude it in the form of scientific data”, said Mr. Anusorn.
 
Members of the tutoring school association will further announce their decision on how to deal with the matter and forward it to the Ministries of Public Health and Education.
 
If tutoring schools are closed for two weeks, the direct impact will be on students, as mid-term exams and some exams for their university entrance are set to take place soon, according to Mr. Anusorn.
 
On Thursday, officials gave out hand sanitisers in Bangkok’s Rajchathewi district where around 20 tutoring schools were located.
 
The H1N1 flu pandemic in Thailand is currently in Phase 2, as the fatality rate is 0.4 per cent which is the same rate as in the US. The fatality rate between 0.1 and 0.5 per cent is categorized in the phase 2, said Kamnuan Ungchusak, spokesman for Department of Disease Control. (TNA)