LATEST: 24/6 A(H1N1): First case in Johor: 19-yr-old female student returning from Melbourne via Changi Airport Singapore on flight SQ0238 on June 22/STAR 9:54 am
All of a sudden we are faced with schools closed due to the virus H1N1. Prior to this, we were informed as though things are under controlled.The public was given the impression that any detenction of fever upon entry into our Airport will have necessary precaution taken. The Airline have been cooperative to immediately send passengers for quarantine on any possibilities of H1N1.
Since the early detection of H1N1 in the country, there have been a serious neglect on the part of the Ministry of Health.
An insider within the health industry revealed that a high official had been informed by an international health organisation official of the serious H1N1 situation in Australia. (Read below a June 2nd, 2009 news report on the situation in Australia).
The official believed to be a Tan Sri chose to ignore the warning and was complacent in his reaction. They was no public warning put out to Malaysians to avoid Australia as a holiday destination for the recent school holiday.
From the closure of several schools in Klang Valley, it is understood that a sizable number of the initially infected students include those returning from Australia for holiday. Thus for the caution statement on travelling abroad to Australia and the United States.
Despite realising the seriousness and increasing number of infected numbers, this blogger was informed that the particular Ministry official did not react to the matter with urgency.
The Health Ministry merely attempted to contact the passengers returning via handphones to request them to voluntarily undergo quarantine. All was done at a lack-a-daisical pace.
The Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai have made some reassuring statements for the public. However, the insider believe that the neglect of his high official has placed Malaysia to possibility of a contagion effect that could result in a H1N1 epidemic. As it is, the infected number is on the rise fast.
This posting is meant to alert the Government and public to be more urgent, dilligent and undertake necessary public and personal precautions. Public health must not be taken likely!
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A/H1N1 flu situation is escalating in Australia----------------------------
www.chinaview.cn 2009-06-03
HONG KONG, June 2 (Xinhua) -- With more and more new lab-confirmed cases of the A/H1N1 flu found in the Asia-Pacific region, the flu situation in Australia is worse with over 300 confirmed cases in the country on Thursday.
Australian health authorities have confirmed that more than 300 people have been diagnosed with the flu and all states and territories are now affected by the virus.
The number of cases diagnosed in Victoria has now risen to 212,Queensland has reported 20 cases, New South Wales 57, South Australia 7, the ACT 4 and Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory have one case each.
Queensland Health Minister Paul Lucas told the parliament Tuesday it's inevitable there will be deaths in Australia from the flu.
Lucas said that the A/H1N1 flu situation is escalating in Australia and the ultimate spread of it in greater numbers can hardly be stopped.
"Inevitably you expect to see deaths in Australia from swine flu," Lucas said.
What the Health is doing is slowing it and seeking to contain it and will continue to take every appropriate action to fight against it, said he.
He said around 1,000 to 3,000 Australians died each year from influenza.
The tally of confirmed A/H1N1 flu cases on the Chinese mainland has risen to 43 on Tuesday as four more people were confirmed infected with the virus while in Hongkong, Another three people were tested positive for the A/H1N1 virus on Tuesday, taking the number of confirmed cases in the city to 26, according to information from local health authorities.
In Thailand, Thai Public Health Ministry announced Tuesday that another Thai is confirmed to be infected by the A/H1N1 influenza virus, the fifth case in the country.
India has confirmed two more new cases. A 34-year-old woman and her five-year-old son from Tamil Nadu, southern India, who returned from the United States on May 28, have been confirmed to be infected with the A H1N1 influenza virus, said Indian health officials Tuesday.
In New Zealand, a child on a recent flight from North America has Influenza A/H1N1, bringing the number of confirmed cases in New Zealand to 10, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
Singapore confirmed its 8th case of Influenza A/H1N1 on Tuesday. According to the country's Health Ministry, the patient is a 15-year-old Singaporean boy who is studying in India. He travelled from India to Orlando and Atlanta on a school trip from May 17 to 31. He returned to Singapore from Atlanta via Mumbai on Singapore Airlines SQ421 on June 1.
No Plan To Close All Schools In Klang Valley - Muhyiddin
Bernama June 23rd, 2009
PUTRAJAYA, June 23 -- The government has no plan to close all schools or ban public gathering in the Klang Valley although most of the Influenza A (H1N1) cases are reported in the area, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said Tuesday.
He said the government would apply the World Health Organisation (WHO) protocols in containing the spread of the virus.
"Unless there is an obvious need for it, we don't want to raise unnecessary alarm among the people," he told reporters after attending a luncheon with Malaysian diplomats at the 7th Heads of Mission Conference at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre, here.
He was asked whether the government would take the measures following the rise in the number of confirmed cases of H1N1 in the Klang Valley.
To date, 68 cases have been reported natiowide and four schools in the Klang Valley were told to close for a week due to the spread of the virus.
Muhyiddin said the Health Ministry was monitoring the situation and would take all the necessary action to contain the disease.
On Malaysia's proposal that countries imposed screening of travellers at the exit points, Muhyiddin said the WHO would deliberate the matter at a forum.
Until there was a consensus on the matter, Malaysia would carry on with existing protocols of screening travellers at the entry points, he said.
On the upward trend in the spread of the virus in the country, with 10 more cases reported today, bringing the total cases to 68, Muhyiddin said he hoped it could be contained as soon as possible.
He also asked the Health Ministry to hold sessions with teachers and parents to explain the necessity for the school closure so that they could help in containing the virus.
17 comments:
Voice..
Please tell the public which Tan Sri is playing with our lives?
Surely some of these carriers must have gone to;
1. hypermarket/minimarkets/wet markets/sundry shops for their daily necessities
2. Or dropped by for some fast food from restaurants or fast food outlets
3. Used public transportation, taxis, buses, commuters etc
4. Or attended some sort of gatherings, weddings, funerals, birthday parties, friends/family get together..
IT IS DEFINITELY GOING TO SPREAD SOMEWHOW!
I feel the Government should initiate immediate steps NOW.. before it spreads further!
ConcernedCitizen
Honestly, Voice,
If Malaysians have to rely on government officials to warn us not to travel to Australia then I am afraid as Malaysians we have failed ourselves. There were warning bells all over the newspapers regarding Australia's situation. Heck I don't even read newspapers these days yet I know Australia was badly affected via my morning dose of Hitz.FM.
Secondly, which kiasu is going to cancel his thousand dollars trip?
Regards,
Anonybro
Aiya mr Voice ad, Gua baru 3 minggu balik dari Iran, Gia perati how kita punya authority handle H151 manyak lack lo.. sapa sappa cam boleh lepas lo. Dulu Sars punya action lagi baguih lo.
Sleepy heads must be chopped fast or more pekung will be exposed !!!!
Voice,
The Oz is BN and Pakatan Rakyat (Except PAS) Oligarchies playground. Who in Malaysia dare to broadcast Travel Warning to Australia.
Nik Nash
Pasir Puteh, Kelantan
Maybe Air Asia got something to do with this..see how cheap the fare to melbourne is especially now and maybe the planes were carrying full load during the school holiday.
Kerengga
i think you've misjudged the high officer in the MOH, because based on the experience we had with SARS, the MOH handled it very well. In fact, i think it's the same high officer whom i think you are implying, handled it. and handled it well, he did with his MOH team. I know coz i am a staff under the moh, but of course, the MOH then was under dr csl, who knows the all about preventive medicine coz he;s a doctor himself. Now it's more of pleasing the politicians, thus this is why you get the chaos. As far as i know the staff at the moh is doing very best, putting their lives in the frontlines. imagine barring anyone from the affected countries to malaysia at the entry point? what will be the political and economic impact? imagine persuading someone who has fever at the entry point to go to hospital? how can you enforce, when these patients abuse you verbally ( yes, it happens), when there is no political will to make people obey the law ( not forgetting, even health staff get sued nowadays). we, at the moh is doing our utmost best at what is required by us, even putting our lives ( and our families) on the line. what how to get the best result, when we can't enforce it ( that's where the law and the police come in, and the police gets sued left and right nowadays, but lawyers make more money)? to the public, we(moh) give advise, we plead for your coorperation, we ask you to obey our instructions, we treat when you are sick, we do follow up on you when you leave. All we ask if you can be more responsible. we are not perfect, we do make mistakes, we are human too. we are sorry if our intructions make your lives such an inconvenience.
i am sorry for going off tangent here, but i do not think that anyone who has a very wide and well known experience & knowledge in the medical field will ever ignore any medical alert from any health body. here, in malaysia health alert notification will have to go thru our masters, who you know ... definitely not under medical knowlegable staffs.
MissJ
I live in Perth..and I don't think every1 should be panic.. No travel ban is needed.. The best thing to do is to get a precaution flu vaccine if u are travelling.. Don't keep on blaming government for everything..
Miss J
You are an MOH staff. THats expected of you to be defensive. But it does not provide added credibility.
I can see only one prominent Tan Sri in MOH. Heard he is the one adamant to privatise IJN to Sime Darby but went along with the rest of the IJN BOD members.
This H1N1 flu can't quite be avoided... it's just like the "regular flu" which kills about 500,000 people annually anyway. The death rate (so far, touchwood) isn't "too high"... but this *may* change though. Statistically, the vast majority of people who catch it will recover without needing any medication. If the death rate was significantly higher (pray to God this doesn't happen), THEN we should start panicking. But anyway... any form of prevention or precaution from now (which is what she should focus on) would be good. Just my 2 sen...
Anon 7:21
Correction: This mamak Tan Sri is working in cohorts with a bunch of greedy & ambitious doctors in IJN for the SIME takeover of IJN & not with the BoD.
Mr F
Anon 7:21
Correction: This mamak Tan Sri is working in cohorts with a bunch of greedy & ambitious doctors in IJN for the SIME takeover of IJN & not with the BoD.
Mr F
What is there to complain Malaysia is still on auto pilot,no need to panic will inform u all when there is a crash landing.
pilot
When a suggestion was made to include flight crew to be the fast line of defence this stupid dg did nothing to include them in the plan of action
This guy would have been sacked if he was elswhere.
Well..someone let the cat outta the bag! If in the UEM' fiasco its the little bag, this time around..its cats!
This DG of Health, supposedly the numero uno in public healthcare, its doing everything a DG supposedly be doing except..the public healthcare. He's more concern about his contract extension rather than thinking about us, the public. H1N1 is not his problem, as simple as that. But, doctors being doctors, they will group together if one of their own is being ridiculed.
Another feline told me, he's still busy with his previous "failed" project ie the takeover of IJN.
Because of his adventure (mis) the last time around, Zubir have been told to take a walk, literally. He will be replaced by Che Khalib, the nut case from TNB. It seems Zubir is deemed "too soft" in dealing with situation like IJN & Labu Labi.
So, the DG is now closing into IJN using a different strategy. IJN is still up for grabs & maybe that's his golden handshake.
I suggest, u leave IJN alone. You have a pandemic in your hands right now and you still no where in finding ways in containing it. Right Tan Sri?
Garfield
you need to write up on IJN. a whole lotta s*** going on there. good people are leaving in droves. it is being privatised under cover. but don't think MOH involved. MOF thou..another story.
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