Swine flu infections down

Government’s efforts to curb the spread of the contagious Influenza A, H1N1 (swine flu) have paid off with only four new laboratory confirmed cases reported as of yesterday.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Government’s efforts to curb the spread of the contagious Influenza A, H1N1 (swine flu) have paid off with only four new laboratory confirmed cases reported as of yesterday.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Health, 91 patients have finished treatment, with 90 of them having fully recovered.

"Reported cases are not severe as all confirmed cases continue to show mild symptoms,” the statement reads.

The Head of the Swine flu response team in the ministry, Dr. Justin Wane, attributes this impressive decline to the various interventions that government has made since the internal outbreak.

"This achievement has mainly resulted from massive sensitization of the public on the necessary hygienic measures and the need to report suspected cases immediately,” Wane told The New Times.

Departments like TRAC Plus, the National Reference Laboratory and other institutions, monitor the situation closely as the ministry boosts the emergency preparedness capacity and surveillance system.

Although the transmission rates have gone down and confirmed cases recovering quickly, officials maintain that major preventive measures such as washing hands as often as possible and covering ones’ nose and mouth when sneezing or coughing must prevail.

The internal outbreak of the flu was first confirmed in the country at the beginning of October.

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