Thailand's confirmed swine flu cases jump to 89

Jun 13, 2009, 3:52 GMT

   Bangkok - Thailand's confirmed cases of the H1N1 swine-flu virus have almost doubled overnight to reach 89, media reports said Saturday.

   On Friday, the Public Health Ministry confirmed 37 new cases of swine flu in Bangkok hospitals, three at Pattaya beach resort, one at a Bangkok international school, one on Phuket Island and one in Songkhla province, the Bangkok Post reported.

The total number of confirmed cases had stood at 46 on Thursday.

Public Health Minister Wittaya Kaewparadai has ordered the import of two million vaccine doses, anticipating that the new virus could swiftly infect thousands of Thais now that it has reached the human-to-human transmission level locally.

   Thailand's first locally transmitted case of H1N1, a boy who had not travelled abroad recently, was detected Wednesday.

   The country's current supply of oseltamivir anti-viral medication is enough to treat 420,000 people.

   While the new virus was declared a pandemic level 6 by the World Health Organization (WHO) Thursday, Thai health authorities have been stressing the relatively mild threat posed by the new virus strain. There have been no reported deaths from H1N1 in Thailand yet.

   This sentiment was echoed Friday by Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan.

   'Social and economic activities should not be interrupted due to unnecessary travel and trade restrictions,' Surin said in a statement issued by the Jakarta-based ASEAN secretariat.

   He noted that while the WHO has raised the pandemic alert level from 5 to 6 for the H1N1 virus, making it the first pandemic of the twenty-first century, the decision reflected the geographic spread, rather than the severity of the disease.

   'While some countries in the ASEAN region have already reported cases, some still have no cases to date,' Surin said.

   An ASEAN health ministers' special meeting on swine flu was held in Bangkok on May 7-8 to better coordinate the region's response to this pandemic.

   An ASEAN stockpile of vaccines is available in Singapore, ready to be distributed to member countries in need. ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.