23.07.09 Ministry reports 20 flu deaths in 7 days
Source: Bangkok Post
The Public Health Ministry is reporting 20 more deaths from the deadly
type-A (H1N1) flu and estimates more than 500,000 Thais have been
infected.
The new fatalities recorded over the past seven days raises the country's death toll to 44 from the flu pandemic.
Another 35 patients were in hospital, seven of them in critical
condition, the ministry said in its weekly report, which replaces its
daily report in an attempt to calm public panic about the disease.
Kamnuan Ungchusak, a senior expert in preventive medicine, said the
estimated figure of 500,000 A (H1N1) cases was based on ministry
calculations, which used the number of patients who had sought hospital
treatment as a factor.
More than 25,000 people have sought treatment for flu-like symptoms at hospitals each day, the ministry has found.
But he said a surge in A (H1N1) cases was not beyond expectations.
"If we can't quarantine the patients with mild symptoms at home, the
figure will absolutely skyrocket," Dr Kamnuan said. "If 50% of them
stay home, the rising infection rate will stabilise. And if more than
70% of them stay home, it is good news. We can successfully control the
outbreak."
Paijit Warachit, deputy permanent secretary for public health, said
the ministry had revised its medical procedures to curb the death rate.
New measures would ensure patients received antiviral drugs in time and
those in critical condition would be supervised by medical experts.
Yong Poovorawan, a virologist at Chulalongkorn University, said school closures had reduced the virus's spread.
"Based on my lab tests, I found cases of infected students have
fallen. But there have been more infections of people aged under six
and between 20-40," Dr Yong said.
The ministry will review the rate of infections during the school
closure period next week and consider whether the measure had been
effective.
The World Health Organisation yesterday said A (H1N1) flu deaths had
doubled in the past three weeks to over 700 from about 330 at the start
of July.
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