South China province seeking people on same flight with A H1N1 patient
The health authorities of south China’s Guangdong Province are seeking 11 people who had been on the same flight with a Mexican who was later found infected with influenza A/H1N1, according to a notice issued by the Provincial Public Health Bureau Saturday morning.The patient and 41 other passengers on the flight AM098 arrived in Shanghai from Mexico on Thursday. The 41 passengers then flew to Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province.
The Guangdong public health bureau decided to put the 41 passengers under a 7-day medical observation. However, so far the bureau has found only 30 of them. The bureau asked the other 11 people to contact local disease prevention and control centers to receive medical observation or call the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention at 020-84451025.
China develops instant diagnostic method for H1N1 flu
China has developed an effective method for instant diagnosis of H1N1 influenza, known as “swine flu”, Minister of Health Chen Zhu said on Thursday. The new method, which features a testing chemical reagent, will be used at the center for disease control and prevention (CDC) offices at all levels, he told a news conference. News of the breakthrough came as the World Health Organization raised the official alert level to Phase 5, one notch below a full-fledged global pandemic.
“All countries should immediately activate their pandemic preparedness plans. Countries should remain on high alert for unusual outbreaks of influenza-like illness and severe pneumonia,” WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said late on Wednesday. In response to the heightened alert, Mexican President Felipe Calderon told his people to stay home from on Thursday for a five-day partial shutdown of the country, where 176 people have been killed by the epidemic.
President Hu meets Japan’s Aso, calling for cherishing achievements in bilateral ties
Chinese President Hu Jintao met Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso in Beijing on Thursday, calling on the two sides to cherish achievements made in bilateral ties. “Since my visit to Japan in May last year, related parties on the two sides have made every effort to implement the consensus and decisions agreed upon during the visit, and had attained important progress in promoting the strategic and mutually-beneficial relations between China and Japan,” Hu told Aso at the Great Hall of the People. “These achievements have not come easy and should be cherished by us,” said Hu.
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