heath: flu total tops 1000

A day after it recorded its first death from the A/H1N1 virus – the so-called ‘swine flu’ – Vietnam counted its 1000^th case on August 5.

The country did not record its first case until May 31, when a student returning from the US tested positive, over a month after the epidemic erupted in Mexico. By early July, the number of cases passed the 200 mark. It was not until late in July that Vietnamese authorities confirmed that the flu was no longer confined to international travellers from infested regions, but had begun to spread in the population at large.

The World Health Organization, counting 1154 swine flu deaths worldwide by the end of July, and 162,380 cases in 160 countries, confirmed that the swine flu virus has spread to every corner of the globe.

Compared to some Southeast Asian neighbors, Vietnam still has been lightly touched by the virus. Thanh Nien newspaper reported on August 5 that 8879 cases and 65 fatalities have been recorded in Thailand, 3207 cases and eight fatalities in the Philippines, 1371 cases and eight fatalities in Malaysia, and 1217 cases and six fatalities in Singapore.

At a meeting of the National Steering Committee on Human Influenza Prevention on August 5, Deputy Health Minister Trinh Quan Huan said that the virus is developing rapidly nationwide and, if health agencies are not vigilant, is at risk of becoming widespread in the community.

Voice of Vietnam radio reported on the morning of August 6 that the nine new cases on August 5 raised the official count to 1004.