INFLUENZA A(H1N1) IN MALAYSIA STILL UNDER CONTROL

KUALA LUMPUR, 9 Jun (Bernama) -- The recent Influenza A(H1N1) cases in the
country are under control and have not reached the outbreak level, said Health
Minister Liow Tiong Lai.

Liow said the ministry was in high alert by strengthening the border checks
and worked very hard to prevent local transmission as the virus was contagious
and could be transmitted very quickly.

"We are very careful because we cannot afford local transmission, that was
why we would move the patient immediately to be quarantined once we had contact
with them.

"If the pandemic level reaches level 6, then we have to take another step
further by going to the plane that lands at our airport and carry out an
inspection, especially planes from countries which record high cases of local
transmission," he told the media after launching the Malaysia Health Tourism
Logo and Website, here Tuesday.

Liow said the ministry was also monitoring the situation in Singapore
closely and would put up border screening in Johor immediately if Singapore
reported local transmission.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry said in a statement today that no new cases
of influenza A(H1N1) had been reported with the total of confirmed cases
remaining at seven imported cases.

Director-General of Health Services Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said that of the
five cases receiving anti-viral treatments, three had been allowed to return
home.

He said 61 new contacts had been detected, raising the total number under
home quarantine to 179 contacts.

Mohd Ismail said the Health Ministry was still tracking other contacts
including air passengers who were on the same flights with all the cases.

As such, the Health Ministry urged all passengers on flight MH091 that
landed at the KLIA on June 3, 2009 at 7.15 am, flight AK702 that landed at LCCT
(Low-Cost Carrier Terminal) on June 3 at 1 pm, and AirAsia X D7 2723 that landed
at the LCCT, Sepang on June 5 at 7 am to contact the ministry at telephone
number 03-88810200 or 03-88810300 between 8 am and 9 pm.

Mohd Ismail said that as of 9 pm last night, 22 notifications of cases
having symptoms of influenza infection after returning from the affected
countries had been received nationwide.

These cases had been referred to the isolation wards in seven hospitals for
treatment and investigation.

"Out of the 22 notifications, 14 were negative of the influenza A (H1N1)
while eight were still waiting for the results of the tests," he said.

To date, the number of accumulated cases investigated following symptoms of
influenza infection after visiting the affected countries was 516 with seven
cases confirmed positive for influenza A(H1N1) and eight were still waiting for
the outcome.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) stated that as at 8 am today,
the number of accumulated cases of influenza A (H1N1) reported was 25,506 with
139 deaths from 73 countries, an increase of 3,335 cases and 14 deaths from the
day before.

On Malaysian Healthcare, Liow said the ministry would submit a memorandum to
the cabinet and propose that a Malaysian Healthcare Travel Council be
established to work with other agencies and the private sector to promote the
Healthcare-Tourism industry.

He said 35 private hospitals in the country had been identified to spearhead
and promote healthcare travel and he hoped that more hospitals would
participate.

Malaysia recorded 374,063 foreigners who sought medical treatment in the
country in 2008, a 10-fold increase within a period of 10 years, he said.

The findings by Deloitte Medical Tourism Report and Research and Consultancy
Solution (RNCOS) in 2005 stated that Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia were among
the most preferred destinations in East Asia for medical treatments and Malaysia
was ranked among the world's top five medical tourism destinations in 2008 by
the Nuwirei Investors, an online source of news related to real estate
investments and other investment opportunities.
-- BERNAMA