Source: TheStarOnline.Com
KUALA LUMPUR: The Government will consider declaring a health curfew only if the mortality rate of those infected with Influenza A (H1N1) goes above 0.4% from the current 0.1%-0.3%.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the Government was currently treating the situation as a “health emergency.”
A "health curfew" may involve the closure of all schools and the cancellation of all public and social functions, medical sources said.
Public gathering places might also be temporarily closed.
The flu took two more lives, a seven-month-old boy and a 74-year-old woman, taking the country’s death toll to 64.
Liow said Monday that 384 new cases were reported, bringing the total number of case to 4,225.
The Government calculates the mortality rate based on there being 20 cases of infection unreported for each one that is reported.
Liow also said that government records show that many of the deaths were due to late treatment, and he urged private doctors urged to “raise their level of suspicion” when checking patients.
In ALOR SETAR, Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak urged the Federal Government to declare a national health alert.
He said the state government was willing to cancel all government programmes including the state-level National Day parade if the Federal Government declared such an alert.
“We view the spread of the flu seriously because the deaths due to the pandemic has increased day-by-day,” he said after the Wisma Darulaman staff monthly morning assembly on Monday.
In PUTRAJAYA, Health Ministry director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said the seven-month old baby had asthma and was warded in the intensive care unit on Aug 7 for fever, cough and breathing difficulties over the past two days.
The toddler’s parents had sought treatment from a private clinic a day earlier and anti-viral treatment was given to him on Aug 8. He was confirmed to have been infected with the A(H1N1) on Aug 12.
“The baby died on Aug 15 due to severe pneumonia with acute respiratory failure,” Dr Ismail said Monday.
The 74-year-old victim suffered from diabetes and heart failure; she was warded on Aug 10 after she fainted at her house.
Dr Ismail said the victim had been suffering from fever and cough since Aug 8 and doctors began anti-viral treatment on her on Aug 11 but the patient died the following day.
He said she had succumbed to severe pneumonia and was tested positive for A(H1N1) on Aug 13.
“There are currently 33 patients being treated in the ICU and they are of the high-risk group -- suffering from chronic illness, asthma, obesity, mentally handicapped patients, a pregnant woman and a woman who had just delivered,” he said.
Dr Ismail said it was important for those even with the slightest flu symptoms to stay away from public places, from going to work or school, and they should not even take public transport to avoid infecting others.
“The public must be aware that even if they have a slight flu, the A(H1N1) virus can still be spread to others when they cough or sneeze.
“That is why we strongly advise those affected to remain at home until the symptoms cease,” he said.
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