|
Experts have said there is no sign that the flu virus currently circulating in Hong Kong is more virulent than past viruses, despite three child deaths in the recent outbreaks. -- PHOTO: AP
|
HONG KONG - FLU cases that spurred Hong Kong to close primary schools for the first time since SARS have prompted close monitoring in southern China's Guangdong province, but no unusual flu patterns have been detected, China's health minister said on Friday.
'We all know flu becomes common between winter and spring. Our analysis of Guangdong shows there haven't been more flu cases than previous years, but we're closely monitoring the situation,' Mr Chen Zhu told reporters in Beijing.
Guangdong's health department said in a statement on its Web site Friday it recorded five flu outbreaks this year across the province, with each outbreak involving at least 15 cases a week.
That figure was 'a bit' higher than the same period last year, but the flu virus behind the outbreaks was less virulent, the health department said.
The provincial capital Guangzhou had two outbreaks, while Shenzhen, across the Chinese border from Hong Kong, had one.
Guangdong health officials have sent experts to Hong Kong to learn more about the situation there, the department said.
In Hong Kong on Friday, Health Secretary York Chow said in a radio interview the total number of flu cases in February and March was higher than the same period last year. He did not give figures.
Primary schools and kindergartens remained closed as a precaution, keeping more than half a million students at home. Some secondary schools have also reported suspected outbreaks, and four have closed voluntarily as of Friday, Education Bureau spokeswoman Connie Lin said.
The government ordered the two-week closure starting Thursday, a week before the start of the Easter holiday - the first such public health measure since the outbreak more than five years ago of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.
SARS surfaced in southern China in November 2002 before spreading to Hong Kong, where it killed 299 people and sparked a major public panic.
Hong Kong is also on guard for bird flu, which killed six people here in 1997.
Scientists also fear the virus that causes it could eventually mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans.
Hong Kong occasionally finds wild birds with avian influenza, the latest a peregrine falcon. After several tests, scientists confirmed it contracted the deadly H5N1 strain, the government said in a statement Friday.
But both the WHO and the Hong Kong government have said the recent human flu outbreak isn't cause for alarm. A top Hong Kong scientist said earlier he and a panel of experts concluded the flu virus isn't deadlier than previous ones.
Former British colony Hong Kong is now Chinese territory, but it maintains separate political and economic systems from the mainland.
In statistics released late on Thursday, Hong Kong officials announced nine new confirmed flu outbreaks and 41 suspected ones, affecting 305 people.
That brings the total since March 6 to 18 confirmed outbreaks, 106 suspected ones and 837 affected people in a city of nearly 7 million. Most of the cases have been confined to schools. -- AP
|
