A(H1N1): Don’t play down its seriousness, says Liow

Star: PUTRAJAYA: Malaysians cannot afford to take the spread of Influenza A(H1N1) lightly just because there have not been any deaths linked to it here yet, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.
Liow said his ministry was growing worried with increasing talk among the public that there was nothing to worry about since hospitals had successfully treated all the cases so far and had kept fatality rates at zero.
He said it was true that the percentage of fatalities worldwide from the flu was low at just 0.44% as compared with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the Avian Flu or Influenza A(H5N1), which had fatality rates of 9.6% and 61% respectively.
However A(H1N1) has spread much more quickly and has infected a lot more people worldwide, he said, so even with the much smaller percentage of fatalities it is capable of causing more deaths than the other diseases.
“We cannot afford to let down our guard and the public must continue to cooperate with us to control and manage its spread or we will start seeing a wider spread and possible deaths,” he told a press conference here Wednesday.
He said the situation in Malaysia was still under control and he did not intend to cause panic among the public and tourists, but it was important to make people aware of the severity of the flu.
On Monday, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen urged the media to play down reporting of the A(H1N1) virus, saying that “energetic” coverage of the pandemic flu had greatly impacted tour booking numbers to Malaysia.
She said Malaysia’s major tourist markets such as China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan had experienced between a 20% and 90% drop in travel bookings to the country in the past two weeks.
Liow meanwhile also refuted claims by certain quarters that Malaysian authorities were placing all visitors to the country under quarantine.
He said officials at airports would take throat swabs if visitors showed symptoms linked to the flu, but only placed them in isolation wards at designated hospitals if they tested positive; those who tested negative were free to leave.
He said even if an airplane passenger tested positive, only those seated three rows in front and three behind the confirmed case were placed under quarantine.
“We are not trying to turn away visitors with our stringent checks, but instead we are sending the message to them that they can be assured we are taking all necessary steps to ensure their safety by controlling the spread of the flu,” he said.

Preparedness plans
On the Influenza A (H1N1) Techical Committee meeting Wednesday, Liow said it decided to ask all companies to come up with contingency plans on how they would manage their operations should a number of their staff in a particular section be infected with the flu.
“In the current slow economic situation we do not want companies to be caught off-guard when their employees are tested positive or placed under quarantine, and have to face the possibility of ceasing operations.
“We hope all companies, large or small, will come up with their own Pandemic Preparedness Plan to help them cope and continue operations in any eventuality,” he said.
Liow had earlier announced that 38 new cases -- 33 imported and five local -- had been reported, bringing the total now to 196.
He said 25 of imported cases involved Malaysians while the others were foreigners from Indonesia (five), and one each from Sweden, Palestine and Argentina.
The 30 had come to Malaysia from Australia (11), Indonesia (seven), Britain (four), Singapore (three), Thailand (three), and one each from the United States, the Philippines, Argentina, Cambodia and China, he said.
Of the five locally transmitted cases, he said, three were students aged between 18 and 16 who were placed under quarantine following the closure of Sekolah Menengah Tsu Jin in Cheras on June 29 due to an outbreak there.
The other two cases involve a 19-year-old student at an institution of higher learning and 29-year-old employee of a private firm.
During the press conference Liow also announced that a new website -- h1n1.moh.gov.my -- that was aimed at providing information on the flu and latest updates was operational.
The ministry has also opened four new phone lines that will operational from 8am-9pm daily: (03) 8881 0200/ 0300/ 4414/ 4415.
It has also decided to allow the Sunway Medical Centre, Sime Darby Medical Centre, Gleneagles Intan Medical Ccentre, Prince Court Medical Centre and the Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur and 29 clinics to take throat swabs for testing.