CHINA'S first swine flu death has triggered fears that 100million people could be infected after the early arrival of winter at the weekend.
Premier Wen Jiabao urged tighter prevention measures as temperatures plunged below zero in Beijing for the first time this year. The capital received 15cm of snow on Sunday.
The Ministry of Health has warned that the flu season could last until March. In the US, President Barack Obama has already declared a state of emergency for the strain of flu, which emerged from Mexico in the middle of the year before heading to the southern hemisphere.
After a decade of deadly bird flu and SARS outbreaks among its population of 1.3 billion, China has more reason to fear the H1N1 flu strain than other countries.
The Chinese mainland has reported six deaths from the flu since October 2. More than 46,000 confirmed H1N1 flu cases had been reported on the mainland. About 75 per cent of sufferers have recovered. Among the 93 cases in a serious condition, 55 were still in hospital, the ministry said.
"Close to 80 per cent of the country's total flu infections are H1N1 flu cases, though the state of the flu was still mild and there was no evidence of virus mutation," Ministry of Health official Liang Wannian said.
While the country has vaccinated 3.75 million people, Mr Liang urged health administrative departments across the country to "prepare for the worst and do the best".
State media said about 390million people on the mainland needed inoculation and groups that had been targeted included the People's Liberation Army and police, medical staff, teachers, students, people working at key public service posts, and patients with chronic or cardiovascular diseases.
But vaccine manufacturing is expected to fall short. Eight domestic vaccine manufacturers are expected to produce a total of 100 million doses of H1N1 flu vaccines by the first quarter of next year, the ministry said.
China: land of the knock-off... especially knock-off medications. Mr. Wife on occasion has hand-carried antibiotics and other meds to expat colleagues over there. Interesting times for the Chinese government, which allowed that criminal scofflaw attitude to develop, coupled with a known 90% shortage of effective vaccine doses.
As of October 31, more than 1500 cases of mass infection had been reported on the mainland, 98 per cent of which were related to schools. At schools in Beijing, three cases of the virus have forced their closure for a week. Beijing's first victim, an unnamed male student at Beihang University, was part of a mass infection in the aeronautic school's military dormitories.
#2 No question about that Chuck. They'll absolutely lie, and they'll allow people in and out of China so their variant of H1N1 will spread around the world.
Posted by Steve White 2009-11-02 11:10||
2009-11-02 11:10||
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