Swine flu death toll 160 and counting
April 29th 2009 23:00
The number of deaths thought to be attributable to swine flu is 160 and counting. A Mexican toddler has died in America, the first swine flu death outside Mexico. The World Health Organization has upgraded its global threat level to 5, its second-highest, and warned nations to prepare for a global flu pandemic. Everyone from health regulators to travellers, not to mention the entire population of Mexico, is holding their breath wondering there this will end.
There have been confirmed cases as far apart as Scotland, Israel and New Zealand, all involving people who had travelled recently to Mexico.
Mexico City has 20 million people. The most affected area is its central section, home to eight million people. There, all restaurants, bars and cinemas have been closed by public order as part of increasingly radical measures to fight the outbreak.
It all brings back memories of the SARS scare in Hong Kong, where I lived at the time, and commuter trains full of people wearing medical masks. There was a certain stoicism about something utterly sinister and yet completely beyond the control of normal citizens. Life must go on. Many people looked fearful. Some looked relaxed. Some drew funny pictures on their face masks. Others laughed in the face of danger and refused to wear masks at all.
Human nature is wonderful. But swine flu isn't. Where will it end?
image: Agence France Presse
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Comment by Morgan Bell
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Comment by Chris Champion
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Another 2,500 or so people in Mexico have contracted the virus, so who knows where the death toll will go.
Comment by Morgan Bell
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i hope they can prevent it from spreading further
Comment by Janet Collins
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What do we do? Put on masks? Or just pretend it isn't happening?
What to do?
Comment by Chris Champion
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Good interview with an American expert on 7.30 Report tonight. We will know much more, she says, in two or three days.
Comment by moonglow
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