<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Health Ministry raises pandemic alert level
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Yellow alert in place as swine flu spreads to Europe and Middle East </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Bertha Henson, Associate Editor
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->SINGAPORE is ramping up measures to guard against swine flu, which has spread beyond the Americas to Europe and the Middle East and possibly Asia.
From today, thermal scanners, already deployed at Changi Airport, will be placed at the Harbourfront Centre and Tanah Merah ferry terminals. At other sea entry points, such as West Coast Pier and Changi Ferry Terminal, temperature checks will be done by thermometer.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>SINGAPORE TAKING NO CHANCES
'It is like an act of God. It's like Sars. How long will it last? I don't know. But we're taking all the precautions.
So far, nobody has been affected. I don't know how many of our people are doing business in Mexico, but if they come back, they will be quarantined.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Hospitals, which already require front-line staff to don masks and gowns, will be taking further measures, such as rescheduling elective admissions, cutting down the number of visitors patients can receive, as well as recording their particulars to facilitate contact tracing.
Schools will also carry out a temperature-taking exercise this week.
The flurry of activity comes after the World Health Organisation (WHO) decided late on Monday night to raise pandemic alert levels from 3 to 4, two short of the maximum. This means that the virus is circulating among humans, and is capable of causing community-level outbreaks.
In Singapore, the Health Ministry (MOH) raised the alert level last night from green to yellow, on a five-colour alert system which rises from green to yellow, orange, red and the most serious, black.
'This is to better brace ourselves to handle situations where there may be isolated imported cases but no sustained local transmission,' it said in a statement.
The colour code is a guide for all parties on how to respond at different stages of a potential pandemic. Actions listed under the yellow strategy include twice-daily temperature checks on hospital staff and a ban on patient transfers between hospitals, except in emergencies.
Last night, National University Hospital staff were already in yellow mode: A thermal scanner is in place to screen visitors. Staff have also been told to stop visitors, except those accompanying children who are patients, from entering the Accident & Emergency department.
'It feels similar to the Sars days, when thorough checks were in place, but it's not that extreme yet where visitors are totally barred,' said a hospital administrative staff.
In 2003, when Sars killed 33 people here, daily temperature checks on students and hospital staff were imposed, as well as 10-day home quarantines on Sars suspects.
So far, swine flu deaths have been confined to Mexico, where the toll is now 152. But the United States and Canada are chalking up more cases of infections.
Confirmed cases have also been reported in Spain, Scotland, Israel and New Zealand. In Asia, a South Korean woman has been classified as a 'probable' case, while suspected cases have surfaced in China, Thailand and Hong Kong.
Here, 16 people have been referred to the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC) and one person was seen at the Singapore General Hospital, said MOH. So far, four have tested negative for influenza A.
=> The other 12 leh? Waiting for AyeAssDee's approval before result release?
Preliminary test results can be obtained in a day, but confirmation of the swine flu H1N1 strain will take up to seven days.
Yesterday, the Government Gazette showed that MOH has authorised seven people to exercise powers under the Infectious Diseases Act till July 31. These include being able to compel those suspected of having the virus to go through a blood test.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force has put out an urgent call for 'flu pandemic supplies' on the website the Government uses to call for tenders.
It could not specify what these supplies were but it made clear that delivery time and shelf life were more important than price. The deadline is tomorrow.
Also last night, MOH gave the assurance that it has enough of the antiviral drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza, to treat Singaporeans should the need arise.
'Members of the public should thus avoid stockpiling of these antiviral drugs,' it added.
[email protected] Additional reporting by Tan Wei Zhen
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Yellow alert in place as swine flu spreads to Europe and Middle East </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Bertha Henson, Associate Editor
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->SINGAPORE is ramping up measures to guard against swine flu, which has spread beyond the Americas to Europe and the Middle East and possibly Asia.
From today, thermal scanners, already deployed at Changi Airport, will be placed at the Harbourfront Centre and Tanah Merah ferry terminals. At other sea entry points, such as West Coast Pier and Changi Ferry Terminal, temperature checks will be done by thermometer.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>SINGAPORE TAKING NO CHANCES
'It is like an act of God. It's like Sars. How long will it last? I don't know. But we're taking all the precautions.
So far, nobody has been affected. I don't know how many of our people are doing business in Mexico, but if they come back, they will be quarantined.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Hospitals, which already require front-line staff to don masks and gowns, will be taking further measures, such as rescheduling elective admissions, cutting down the number of visitors patients can receive, as well as recording their particulars to facilitate contact tracing.
Schools will also carry out a temperature-taking exercise this week.
The flurry of activity comes after the World Health Organisation (WHO) decided late on Monday night to raise pandemic alert levels from 3 to 4, two short of the maximum. This means that the virus is circulating among humans, and is capable of causing community-level outbreaks.
In Singapore, the Health Ministry (MOH) raised the alert level last night from green to yellow, on a five-colour alert system which rises from green to yellow, orange, red and the most serious, black.
'This is to better brace ourselves to handle situations where there may be isolated imported cases but no sustained local transmission,' it said in a statement.
The colour code is a guide for all parties on how to respond at different stages of a potential pandemic. Actions listed under the yellow strategy include twice-daily temperature checks on hospital staff and a ban on patient transfers between hospitals, except in emergencies.
Last night, National University Hospital staff were already in yellow mode: A thermal scanner is in place to screen visitors. Staff have also been told to stop visitors, except those accompanying children who are patients, from entering the Accident & Emergency department.
'It feels similar to the Sars days, when thorough checks were in place, but it's not that extreme yet where visitors are totally barred,' said a hospital administrative staff.
In 2003, when Sars killed 33 people here, daily temperature checks on students and hospital staff were imposed, as well as 10-day home quarantines on Sars suspects.
So far, swine flu deaths have been confined to Mexico, where the toll is now 152. But the United States and Canada are chalking up more cases of infections.
Confirmed cases have also been reported in Spain, Scotland, Israel and New Zealand. In Asia, a South Korean woman has been classified as a 'probable' case, while suspected cases have surfaced in China, Thailand and Hong Kong.
Here, 16 people have been referred to the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC) and one person was seen at the Singapore General Hospital, said MOH. So far, four have tested negative for influenza A.
=> The other 12 leh? Waiting for AyeAssDee's approval before result release?
Preliminary test results can be obtained in a day, but confirmation of the swine flu H1N1 strain will take up to seven days.
Yesterday, the Government Gazette showed that MOH has authorised seven people to exercise powers under the Infectious Diseases Act till July 31. These include being able to compel those suspected of having the virus to go through a blood test.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force has put out an urgent call for 'flu pandemic supplies' on the website the Government uses to call for tenders.
It could not specify what these supplies were but it made clear that delivery time and shelf life were more important than price. The deadline is tomorrow.
Also last night, MOH gave the assurance that it has enough of the antiviral drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza, to treat Singaporeans should the need arise.
'Members of the public should thus avoid stockpiling of these antiviral drugs,' it added.
[email protected] Additional reporting by Tan Wei Zhen
