BALI PUBLIC ALERTED AGAINST SWINE FLU

Denpasar, April 29 (ANTARA) - Bali's provincial authorities have urged local people and all concerned parties to step up alertness in order to prevent swine flu from breaking out in the resort island.

People are urged to pay more attention to cleanliness, sanitation and the environment, particularly at pig farms, Dr I Nyoman Sutedja, head of the Bali provincial health office, said here on Wednesday.

The measures taken by the Bali authorities were in line with the instructions issued by the United Nations (UN) which urged all nations to take anticipatory steps, he said.

Bali, as as a world tourism destination, has made early preparations by among other things preparing three hospitals to be able to give medical treatment to people suspected of having contracted swine flu or Singapore flu if necessary, Sutedja said.

The three hospitals are Sanglah General Hospital in Denpasar, Gianyar General Hospital in Gianyar, some 20 km east of Denpasar, and Tabanan General Hospital in Tabanan, about 21 km west of Denpasar.

The hospitals have special isolation rooms and trained doctors and paramedics to handle influenza-like illnesses.

Meanwhile, Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport is also now on a full alert to prevent swine flu from entering the world-famous resort island.

Any passenger and aircraft crew member coming from a foreign country must pass a thermal scanner to determine his or her body temperature, Alex Pujianto, general and human resources manager of the Ngurah Rai unit of PT Angkasa Pura I, said here on Wednesday.

Passengers coming from swine-flu affected countries would go through a special checking procedure, he said.

Airport management company PT Angkasa Pura would soon gather domestic and foreign airline operators operating at Ngurah Rai to inform them about measures to be taken to contain the spread of swine flu, he said.

In Mexico, swine flu is believed to have killed 149 people while 776 others have been hospitalized, according to Mexican government statistics. The number of infections in the United States rose to 65, Canada has 13, and new cases were also confirmed in Israel and New Zealand.