The Hindu : Front Page : No swine flu case: government

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Monday, May 04, 2009
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No swine flu case: government

K. Balchand

NEW DELHI: With a Hyderabad passenger too testing negative for influenza A(H1N1), the government asserted that the situation was under control and no case of the flu had been reported at any international airport in the country.

According to official sources, the clinical samples of the passenger screened at the Hyderabad airport tested so far had been negative for the influenza .

Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Panabaka Lakshmi reviewed the situation on Sunday.

Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar will review the situation at a meeting with all State health secretaries on Monday.

With new screening counters set up at the Karipur (Kozhikode), Mangalore and Thiruvananthapuram airports, passengers were screened at 21 international airports on Sunday. So far a total of 41,012 passengers were screened at 59 counters .

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation laboratory reported 658 confirmed cases of influenza A(HINI) infection, with 17 deaths from 16 countries, of which the United States accounted for one and Mexico 16 deaths.

Reuters reports from Geneva:

WHO food safety scientist Peter Ben Embarek said flu surveillance should be increased in both humans and animals now that the virus strain had infected pigs in Canada.

He stressed there was no recommendation to cull pigs anywhere in the world as a result of the virus, and said that well-cooked pork and pork products remained safe for consumption.

An AP report said that in Britain the confirmed swine flu cases rose to 18 on Sunday, and it appeared two of the new cases were linked to travel in the U.S.

Scotland’s health protection agency said the latest patient to come down with the virus there was a Scottish man who got sick after travelling recently to Houston, Texas. U.S. health authorities said the flu was now present in more than half the nation’s States with 226 confirmed infections in 30 States.

Previous reports

Asia struggles to limit spread of swine flu

No flu case in India

Suspected swine flu patient in Chest Hospital

India free from flu, 20,000 passengers screened

Advisory calls for vigil

No case of swine flu in India

India fully geared, says WHO

Will swine flu turn pandemic? - Editorial

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