12 June :With swine flu being declared a pandemic, the Government said on Friday that there was no need for panic as all precautions have been taken to ensure that the disease does not spread in the country.
Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said the number of persons infected in the country is "too less and too small" compared to its size and population.
"I don’t think there is any need for panic. So far our country is concerned…in view of the size and population of the country, the number of persons infected is too less and too small," he said.
The Minister, however, said it could not be a reason for not taking any precaution.His comments came a day after the World Health Organisation declared the disease as a pandemic, raising its
alert to maximum ‘level six’ as more swine flu cases were reported from across the world, including India."As a matter of fact we have already started taking action on this right from day one and a number of precautions have been already taken," Azad said.
On a request from the Health Ministry, the Government has already asked its Missions in countries affected by swine flu to urgently get in touch with the host governments to ensure screening of outbound passengers.
WHO declares swine flu pandemic, 74 countries affected
The World Health Organisation declared a swine flu pandemic, the first global flu epidemic in 41 years, as infections in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America and elsewhere climbed to nearly 30,000 cases.
The long-awaited pandemic announcement is scientific confirmation that a new flu virus has emerged and is quickly circling the globe.
WHO will now ask drugmakers to speed up production of a swine flu vaccine.
The declaration will also prompt governments to devote more money toward efforts to contain the virus.
WHO chief Dr Margaret Chan made the announcement Thursday after the UN agency held an emergency meeting with flu experts.
Chan said she was moving the world to phase 6, the agency’s highest alert level, which means a pandemic, or global epidemic, is under way.
"The world is moving into the early days of its first influenza pandemic in the 21st century," Chan told reporters. "The (swine flu) virus is now unstoppable."
On Thursday, WHO said 74 countries had reported nearly 27,737 cases of swine flu, including 141 deaths. Chan described the virus as "moderate."
According to WHO’s pandemic criteria, a global outbreak has begun when a new flu virus begins spreading in two world regions.
The agency has stressed that most cases are mild and require no treatment, but the fear is that a rash of new infections could overwhelm hospitals and health authorities, especially in poorer countries.
Still, about half of the people who have died from swine flu were previously young and healthy, people who are not usually susceptible to flu. Swine flu is also crowding out regular flu viruses. Both features are typical of pandemic flu viruses.
The last pandemic, the Hong Kong flu of 1968, killed about 1 million people. Ordinary flu kills about 250,000 to 500,000 people each year.
Swine flu is also continuing to spread during the start of summer in the northern hemisphere. Normally, flu viruses disappear with warm weather, but swine flu is proving to be resilient.
The decision might have been made much earlier if WHO had more accurate information about swine flu’s rising sweep through Europe.
Chan said she called the emergency meeting with flu experts after concerns were raised that some countries like Britain were not accurately reporting their cases.
Meanwhile, UN chief Ban Ki-moon has cautioned against alarm over the World Health Organisation (WHO) declaration of a swine flu pandemic and instead called for global solidarity.
The WHO, he noted, declared earlier in the day that the swine flu crisis has escalated into the world’s first influenza pandemic in 40 years, after infecting tens of thousands of people in 74 countries.
"Let me stress: this is a formal statement about the geographical spread of the disease … It is not in itself a cause for alarm," the UN secretary general told a press conference on Thursday.