Gov't to intensify new flu-monitoring process

SEOUL, May 21 (Yonhap) -- The government said Thursday it will intensify local monitoring of the new type-A influenza in the coming weeks to prevent the spread of the outbreak that has hit 41 countries worldwide.

The Prime Minister's Office said concerted efforts to detect and isolate flu
cases will be carried out until June 11.
Authorities said 20,000 local schools, hospitals and clinics and 17 public health
laboratories will be required to report all suspected cases and take speedy
countermeasures.
"The measures take into account developments taking place in the United States
and Japan, which are struggling to deal with a spike in number of infected
cases," said Kwon Tae-shin, head of the government policy coordination office.
He stressed that particular attention will be paid to schools, where the virus
can spread very quickly.
Isolating sick people is critical since the flu virus is spread from person to
person and can be contagious even if a person does not show symptoms like fever,
coughing, nasal congestion and headaches.
At present, the country has four confirmed type-A H1N1 cases, with one being a
Vietnamese national who was scheduled for a connecting flight at Incheon
International Airport.
"Teachers will be obliged to keep close tabs on their students who show signs of
flu or are absent due to ill health," the minister-level official said. He said
schools must report such cases to the nearest state-run medical clinic for
testing.
Kwon added that Seoul is considering action to raise the country's alert status
from yellow to orange if the World Health Organization (WHO) moves to upgrade its
epidemic level.
Related to tougher monitoring measures, the government said it will speed up the
approval process for type-A vaccines under development.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it is working closely
with the WHO and local experts, adding that if a vaccine is submitted for mass
production, efforts will be made to permit it since epidemics can spread very
quickly.
Ordinary vaccines require considerable time to develop since they must go through
pre-clinical and clinical tests.
Experiments are underway to find a vaccine, with health officials expecting a
drug to reach the market around September.
Meanwhile, the WHO said there are 11,034 confirmed cases of the flu worldwide,
with 85 deaths associated with the virus. Of the fatalities, Mexico reported 75,
with the United States reporting eight. One death each was reported in Canada and
Costa Rica.
The United States has the largest number of confirmed cases, followed by Mexico,
Canada and Japan.