S. Korean gov`t to raise Influenza A alert level to `red`

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details in paras 2-3; ADDS with more information, comments
from para 4)
SEOUL, Nov. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea plans to raise its national epidemic alert
to the highest "red" level to reflect the rapid spread of the Influenza A virus,
the government said Monday.
The Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs said the official
announcement will be made Tuesday afternoon, and comes after experts have
predicted that the number of people contracting the H1N1 virus will continue to
increase in the next three to four weeks.
It said that an average of 8,857 people were confirmed as having caught the flu
every day last week, twice as many as the 4,420 tallied the week before.
Measures that are to be implemented to check the spread of the virus include
travel restrictions, cancellations of large-scale events and speeding up the
testing process to see if a person has contracted the disease or not.
Efforts will also be made to prevent people from abusing anti-viral medicine like
Tamiflu that can lead to dangerous tolerance to the drug in the future.
The ministry in charge of the country's health policies, however, said no orders
will be given to close down all schools at present.
The decision to raise the national epidemic alert level to "red" is a sign that
Seoul is concerned that the new flu strain is spreading at a "pandemic" pace.
A red alert level is the highest of the four-level-tier government system that is
maintained to guard against the spread of a contagious disease in the country.
The highest alert is issued if a virus is spreading rapidly among the general
population that requires immediate action by authorities.
An outbreak of a virus strain that has broken out among livestock but not reached
humans receives a "blue" alert followed by "yellow" for people getting sick but
without person-to-person contaminations. This is raised to "orange" if a virus is
transmitted from one person to another without it being widespread.
Related to the surge in sick people, the ministry said that hospitals have
reported roughly 80 percent of all seasonal influenza cases being tested positive
for the Influenza A H1N1.
A total of 40 people have died from the flu since mid-August with 48 people
currently being treated in hospital intensive care units.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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