Eight CPM and five RSS activists were on Tuesday sentenced to life imprisonment in two separate cases of murder in Kerala's
Kannur and Alappuzha districts.
The CPM workers were punished for killing RSS activist Shaji at Thalassery in Kannur district seven years ago. Another accused was given an additional 10 years' rigorous imprisonment for stocking explosives at his home.
The RSS workers were sentenced to life by an additional sessions court in Mavelikkara of Alappuzha district for killing a youth, Ashraf, in February 2005.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
LTTE cadres could sneak into India, fear security agencies
In the wake of the Sri Lankan military offensive, security agencies have warned that LTTE cadres could infiltrate into India. Sources
said while this kind of intelligence has not been corroborated, there is increasing fears that LTTE operatives fleeing Lanka may be in India.
In the election season, this only adds to the dangers facing India. Moreover, considering LTTE has said that those who were not "with" them were "against" them, India also believes that the threat from the Lankan terrorist organisation has also increased.
The Lankan offensive had only degraded the conventional military capability of the LTTE, sources said. Their political leadership remained intact, as did their fund-raising capacities and their international "business" operations. "Until the command and control of the LTTE is destroyed, this organisation will continue to be dangerous," a source said. LTTE still retains capability for guerrilla warfare.
This was only the end of one phase of the war in Sri Lanka, they said.
Sri Lanka needs to immediately undertake relief and rehabilitation measures for civilian Tamils. India will also expand the 100-bed hospital in Vavuniya and the strength of Indian doctors there will be increased from 62. These activities will be undertaken under the Rs 100 crore humanitarian assistance package announced by India.
According to Indian estimates, around 1.65 lakh civilians came out of the conflict zone in the last one week and between 5,000 and 20,000 are still trapped there. According to LTTE, 4,500 people died during the conflict between Sri Lankan military and Tamil Tigers. India believes that while casualties are inevitable in a war, every effort should be made to get civilians out of the conflict zone. To de-mine areas freed from LTTE control and to make these safe for civilians, two expert teams are being sent in addition to the one already in Sri Lanka.
said while this kind of intelligence has not been corroborated, there is increasing fears that LTTE operatives fleeing Lanka may be in India.
In the election season, this only adds to the dangers facing India. Moreover, considering LTTE has said that those who were not "with" them were "against" them, India also believes that the threat from the Lankan terrorist organisation has also increased.
The Lankan offensive had only degraded the conventional military capability of the LTTE, sources said. Their political leadership remained intact, as did their fund-raising capacities and their international "business" operations. "Until the command and control of the LTTE is destroyed, this organisation will continue to be dangerous," a source said. LTTE still retains capability for guerrilla warfare.
This was only the end of one phase of the war in Sri Lanka, they said.
Sri Lanka needs to immediately undertake relief and rehabilitation measures for civilian Tamils. India will also expand the 100-bed hospital in Vavuniya and the strength of Indian doctors there will be increased from 62. These activities will be undertaken under the Rs 100 crore humanitarian assistance package announced by India.
According to Indian estimates, around 1.65 lakh civilians came out of the conflict zone in the last one week and between 5,000 and 20,000 are still trapped there. According to LTTE, 4,500 people died during the conflict between Sri Lankan military and Tamil Tigers. India believes that while casualties are inevitable in a war, every effort should be made to get civilians out of the conflict zone. To de-mine areas freed from LTTE control and to make these safe for civilians, two expert teams are being sent in addition to the one already in Sri Lanka.
Buner operation launched after success in Dir
Director-General Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Athar Abbas said on Tuesday that the government would not allow anyone to violate writ of the state adding that a major offensive has been launched to flush out militants from Buner.
Addressing a press briefing here, Major General Athar Abbas said that security forces extended an offensive against Taliban militants to Buner district, around 100 km (60 miles) north of the capital Islamabad.
“The military launched an operation at 4:00 pm today, the aim of the offensive is to eliminate and expel militants from Buner”, Abbas said.
He said the army and the Frontier Corps troops have entered Buner and IG FC is overseeing the operation. Abbas said that over 70 militants were killed in Lower Dir operation while 10 security forces personnel were martyred. Abbas said that fighter jets of PAF are also taking part in the operation.
He said over 500 militants, equipped with sophisticated communication system, are holed up in various parts of Buner who are constantly receiving money and arms from unknown sources.
Addressing a press briefing here, Major General Athar Abbas said that security forces extended an offensive against Taliban militants to Buner district, around 100 km (60 miles) north of the capital Islamabad.
“The military launched an operation at 4:00 pm today, the aim of the offensive is to eliminate and expel militants from Buner”, Abbas said.
He said the army and the Frontier Corps troops have entered Buner and IG FC is overseeing the operation. Abbas said that over 70 militants were killed in Lower Dir operation while 10 security forces personnel were martyred. Abbas said that fighter jets of PAF are also taking part in the operation.
He said over 500 militants, equipped with sophisticated communication system, are holed up in various parts of Buner who are constantly receiving money and arms from unknown sources.
UK cases of swine flu: How couple's honeymoon in Cancun ended in isolation unit
Swine flu tests were being carried out on 23 people across Scotland yesterday as Britain's first confirmed victims of the virus recovered in hospital. Nine people who have been in close contact with newlyweds Iain and Dawn Askham are among those undergoing tests.
Another 14 people with travel links to Mexico or affected parts of the United States have also shown symptoms of swine flu and are being tested, said Scotland's health secretary, Nicola Sturgeon.
The cases came from several health board areas - Greater Glasgow, Lothians, Grampian, Tayside and Lanarkshire. Their symptoms were described as mild.
The Department of Health said last night that leaflets would be distributed to households across the UK containing information on the swine flu virus. A spokeswoman said: "The leaflet will be sent out next week, cover the whole of the UK and will contain information about this flu outbreak and preventative messages."
There were reports last night that the department had ordered millions of surgical face masks for health workers, but the spokeswoman would only say discussions were taking place with manufacturers.
She said: "We are talking to a number of manufacturers about procuring face masks. We are not in a position to provide further details at this stage."
"Although we are aware that facemasks are being given out to the public in Mexico, the available scientific evidence does not support the general wearing of facemasks by those who are not ill while going about their normal activities."
Sturgeon was keen to stress that the symptoms of the people being tested in Scotland were mild and that they were not confirmed cases.
She added that a passenger on the same flight used by the Askhams to fly home from the Mexican resort of Cancún last Tuesday had also shown mild flu symptoms in England, and was also being tested.
Dr Harry Burns, Scotland's chief medical officer, indicated that most of those extra cases involved people aged between 25 and 40, in common with the large majority of the victims in Mexico.
It is understood, however, that one of nine people with symptoms within the Askhams' "contact group" is a five-year-old child and may include colleagues of Dawn Askham at a branch of Boots in Polmont, where she worked as a dispensing assistant but had no direct contact with customers.
In a joint statement issued yesterday afternoon by the couple's parents, Iain and Pauline Askham, and Linda and Brian Colston, the families noted: "They were both quite shocked that the result was positive for swine flu."
Within hours, both families and close friends - 22 people in total - found themselves under surveillance. Both sets of parents are now under voluntary quarantine, taking regular doses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu, waiting for the couple to be discharged from hospital.
Scottish ministers and senior health experts have been at pains to insist their symptoms are very mild and no one else has yet tested positive, but locally the fear of infection has spread faster than the virus.
Calls to NHS24, Scotland's phone-in service for medical advice, have jumped 20% in one day.
The chief medical officer for Wales, Tony Jewell, said there were eight suspected cases under investigation in the country and all were linked to travel in Mexico.
Wiltshire primary care trust confirmed that seven people from the county were being tested at a Health Protection Agency facility in Bristol.
Another 14 people with travel links to Mexico or affected parts of the United States have also shown symptoms of swine flu and are being tested, said Scotland's health secretary, Nicola Sturgeon.
The cases came from several health board areas - Greater Glasgow, Lothians, Grampian, Tayside and Lanarkshire. Their symptoms were described as mild.
The Department of Health said last night that leaflets would be distributed to households across the UK containing information on the swine flu virus. A spokeswoman said: "The leaflet will be sent out next week, cover the whole of the UK and will contain information about this flu outbreak and preventative messages."
There were reports last night that the department had ordered millions of surgical face masks for health workers, but the spokeswoman would only say discussions were taking place with manufacturers.
She said: "We are talking to a number of manufacturers about procuring face masks. We are not in a position to provide further details at this stage."
"Although we are aware that facemasks are being given out to the public in Mexico, the available scientific evidence does not support the general wearing of facemasks by those who are not ill while going about their normal activities."
Sturgeon was keen to stress that the symptoms of the people being tested in Scotland were mild and that they were not confirmed cases.
She added that a passenger on the same flight used by the Askhams to fly home from the Mexican resort of Cancún last Tuesday had also shown mild flu symptoms in England, and was also being tested.
Dr Harry Burns, Scotland's chief medical officer, indicated that most of those extra cases involved people aged between 25 and 40, in common with the large majority of the victims in Mexico.
It is understood, however, that one of nine people with symptoms within the Askhams' "contact group" is a five-year-old child and may include colleagues of Dawn Askham at a branch of Boots in Polmont, where she worked as a dispensing assistant but had no direct contact with customers.
In a joint statement issued yesterday afternoon by the couple's parents, Iain and Pauline Askham, and Linda and Brian Colston, the families noted: "They were both quite shocked that the result was positive for swine flu."
Within hours, both families and close friends - 22 people in total - found themselves under surveillance. Both sets of parents are now under voluntary quarantine, taking regular doses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu, waiting for the couple to be discharged from hospital.
Scottish ministers and senior health experts have been at pains to insist their symptoms are very mild and no one else has yet tested positive, but locally the fear of infection has spread faster than the virus.
Calls to NHS24, Scotland's phone-in service for medical advice, have jumped 20% in one day.
The chief medical officer for Wales, Tony Jewell, said there were eight suspected cases under investigation in the country and all were linked to travel in Mexico.
Wiltshire primary care trust confirmed that seven people from the county were being tested at a Health Protection Agency facility in Bristol.
Pakistan attacks Taliban bases near Islamabad
The Pakistani army launched an air attack Tuesday and prepared to deploy troops against Taliban bases near Islamabad, the nation's capital.
The offensive appeared to be a broadening of the state's moves against militants, many of whom have become increasingly brash after reaching a controversial peace deal this year largely on their terms.
In Pakistan, fighting terrorists the...Pakistanis worry about their international image
Pakistan kills at least 30 militants
Hillary Clinton warns of 'existential threat' in Pakistan
Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, a military spokesman, told reporters in Rawalpindi that army and Frontier Corps paramilitary units launched the operation in Buner district, building on a several-day offensive in the region. Abbas said an estimated 450 to 500 Taliban fighters are believed to be active in Buner.
"The government asked them to leave the district several times but they paid no heed," Abbas said. "The operation in Buner aims to eliminate militants who pretended to leave the area."
Witness reports suggested some Taliban militants fired back at army helicopter gunships with heavy machine guns. Buner officials said a curfew was imposed indefinitely. Explosions were heard as helicopters bombed militant strongholds, and Taliban fighters reportedly blew up the main bridge in Buner's Ambala area in retaliation.
Early this month, well-armed Taliban militants entered Buner from their stronghold in neighboring Swat Valley, setting up checkpoints, warning locals to follow strict Islamic rules and patrolling the area. They also reportedly took over Buner's Pir Baba police station, holding 43 paramilitary fighters and 17 policemen hostage, and have kidnapped boys to recruit into Taliban ranks. Buner is about 60 miles from Islamabad.
This bid to boost the militants' influence -- coming fast on the heels of a peace deal in Swat that granted them authority to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, on the population -- has raised alarm across Pakistan and around the world amid fears their expansion could further undercut the state authority in this nuclear-equipped nation.
The army's attack Tuesday follows several days of military activity in Dir, another nearby district that has witnessed an influx of Swat Taliban.
Abbas said the army successfully cleared Dir of fighters in an operation that left as many as 75 militants and 10 security forces dead. By Tuesday, however, up to 30,000 residents wary of getting caught in the crossfire had reportedly fled Dir for the regional capital of Peshawar and nearby towns.
Swat, Buner and Dir are part of the Malakand division of the North-West Frontier Province abutting Afghanistan. Two weeks ago, President Asif Ali Zardari sanctioned the Sharia peace deal throughout the region with radical cleric Sufi Mohammed. Supporters argued the move would reduce violence, as militants were expected to disarm. Critics tarred the deal as a sellout that would embolden the extremists.
Analysts said some suspect that the United States put pressure on Zardari to mount the offensive. Also, concern is growing domestically that the Taliban will not stop fighting.
"No one likes the authority of their state to be challenged by a lot of people that could lead to anarchy," said Tasneem Noorani, a former Interior Minister. Pakistanis "don't necessarily have a lot of love lost for Zardari, but they're perturbed that after [the Taliban] saw its demands achieved, they continued to mount a challenge."
The government also bears enormous responsibility for the recent developments in the region, added Shireen Mazari, a defense analyst. If it hadn't abdicated its basic responsibility to maintain security for its citizens in the frontier and tribal areas, the Taliban and other militant groups wouldn't have been able to move into the vacuum, she said.
Pakistan's leaders barely venture into the areas in question, she added.
"At the end of the day, the army can only do tactical operations," she said. "Ultimately, there must be a political solution."
The offensive appeared to be a broadening of the state's moves against militants, many of whom have become increasingly brash after reaching a controversial peace deal this year largely on their terms.
In Pakistan, fighting terrorists the...Pakistanis worry about their international image
Pakistan kills at least 30 militants
Hillary Clinton warns of 'existential threat' in Pakistan
Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, a military spokesman, told reporters in Rawalpindi that army and Frontier Corps paramilitary units launched the operation in Buner district, building on a several-day offensive in the region. Abbas said an estimated 450 to 500 Taliban fighters are believed to be active in Buner.
"The government asked them to leave the district several times but they paid no heed," Abbas said. "The operation in Buner aims to eliminate militants who pretended to leave the area."
Witness reports suggested some Taliban militants fired back at army helicopter gunships with heavy machine guns. Buner officials said a curfew was imposed indefinitely. Explosions were heard as helicopters bombed militant strongholds, and Taliban fighters reportedly blew up the main bridge in Buner's Ambala area in retaliation.
Early this month, well-armed Taliban militants entered Buner from their stronghold in neighboring Swat Valley, setting up checkpoints, warning locals to follow strict Islamic rules and patrolling the area. They also reportedly took over Buner's Pir Baba police station, holding 43 paramilitary fighters and 17 policemen hostage, and have kidnapped boys to recruit into Taliban ranks. Buner is about 60 miles from Islamabad.
This bid to boost the militants' influence -- coming fast on the heels of a peace deal in Swat that granted them authority to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, on the population -- has raised alarm across Pakistan and around the world amid fears their expansion could further undercut the state authority in this nuclear-equipped nation.
The army's attack Tuesday follows several days of military activity in Dir, another nearby district that has witnessed an influx of Swat Taliban.
Abbas said the army successfully cleared Dir of fighters in an operation that left as many as 75 militants and 10 security forces dead. By Tuesday, however, up to 30,000 residents wary of getting caught in the crossfire had reportedly fled Dir for the regional capital of Peshawar and nearby towns.
Swat, Buner and Dir are part of the Malakand division of the North-West Frontier Province abutting Afghanistan. Two weeks ago, President Asif Ali Zardari sanctioned the Sharia peace deal throughout the region with radical cleric Sufi Mohammed. Supporters argued the move would reduce violence, as militants were expected to disarm. Critics tarred the deal as a sellout that would embolden the extremists.
Analysts said some suspect that the United States put pressure on Zardari to mount the offensive. Also, concern is growing domestically that the Taliban will not stop fighting.
"No one likes the authority of their state to be challenged by a lot of people that could lead to anarchy," said Tasneem Noorani, a former Interior Minister. Pakistanis "don't necessarily have a lot of love lost for Zardari, but they're perturbed that after [the Taliban] saw its demands achieved, they continued to mount a challenge."
The government also bears enormous responsibility for the recent developments in the region, added Shireen Mazari, a defense analyst. If it hadn't abdicated its basic responsibility to maintain security for its citizens in the frontier and tribal areas, the Taliban and other militant groups wouldn't have been able to move into the vacuum, she said.
Pakistan's leaders barely venture into the areas in question, she added.
"At the end of the day, the army can only do tactical operations," she said. "Ultimately, there must be a political solution."
As Flu Spreads to 7 Countries, Restrictions Are Tightened
State and federal officials intensified their response to the swine flu outbreak on Tuesday, with President Obama asking Congress for $1.5 billion in supplemental funding and New York reporting two new potential clusters at local schools.
The global response included more restrictions on travel to and from Mexico, the origin of the outbreak and the only country to have reported deaths from swine flu. Officials there shut down schools across the country and limited restaurant service in Mexico City in an effort to curb transmission of the virus, which has killed at least 152.
Israel confirmed its first two cases of swine flu, which is now in at least seven countries. Ten others including China and Russia, which were set to quarantine passengers suspected of having the flu, are investigating possible cases.
Dr. Richard Besser, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, termed the early days of swine flu in the United States as a “pre-pandemic period” and was blunt about the potential impact of this influenza.
“As this moves forward,” Dr. Besser said, “I fully expect that we will see deaths from this infection.”
He said that five people confirmed to have swine flu had been hospitalized in the United States — two in Texas and three in California, where Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency. Still, the nation’s highest number of cases continued to be in New York City, where 44 people were confirmed to have swine flu.
All of those cases are from same high school in Queens, St. Francis Preparatory Academy, where the outbreak was first discovered last Thursday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said at a news conference. But he said that two new potential outbreaks at schools were being investigated. At P.S. 177, near St. Francis Prep, 12 students had fevers, and at Ascension School, in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, six students showed flu-like symptoms. Students from both schools were still being tested.
In addition, Mayor Bloomberg said that there were five other cases being investigated: three more from Saint Francis and two others who had contact with people recently in Mexico: a 2-year-old Bronx boy who remains hospitalized but is recovering and a Brooklyn woman who has been released from a hospital.
“It is here and it is spreading,” Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the New York City Health Commissioner, said at the news conference at City Hall.
Dr. Frieden, however, said that the New York cases were mild and that the city had enough courses of Tamiflu stockpiled for one million people. He added that it was still “early” to determine the course of the virus.
In Washington, Congressional hearings addressed the seriousness of the outbreak.
“I really think we need to be prepared for the worsening of the situation,” Rear Adm. Anne Schuchat, the C.D.C.’s interim science and public health deputy director, told a Senate Appropriations health subcommittee. “It’s more of a marathon than a sprint,” she said, echoing what Dr. Besser had said on Sunday, when the country first declared swine flu a public health emergency.
Senator Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat who heads the subcommittee, noted that “there’s a lot of anxiety right now across the country.”
Still, that anxiety is not on the same scale as in Mexico, where the number of people believed to have been sickened in the country surpassed 1,600 on Tuesday.
The economic response to the health crisis rippled from Mexico throughout the globe: Cuba canceled all flights to Mexico. Carnival Cruise Lines said it had canceled Mexico stops for three of its cruise ships because of the swine flu alert, according to Reuters. So far, nine countries have some kind of ban on pork imports: China, Croatia, Indonesia, Lebanon, Russia, South Korea, Thailand, Ukraine and Ecuador.
Mexico City, meanwhile, was looking increasingly like a ghost town. On Tuesday morning, the city government ordered all restaurants, except those that serve take-out food, be closed until May 6. About 30,000 restaurants will be affected.
In some neighborhoods, restaurants had begun shutting down as early as last weekend. Cinemas, bars and discoteques have also been shut.
But the city has yet to make the decision to shut down public transportation, a move that would freeze most economic activity in the capital. Schools all over the country were closed Tuesday, affecting some 33 million students.
Citigroup’s Mexican subsidiary, Banamex, ran a newspaper ad asking customers to wear their masks and wash their hands. At bank branches, where employees have been told to wash their hands every hour, antiseptic gel dispensers were being installed. Banamex also asked customers to do as much banking by phone and Internet as possible.
Wal-Mart de Mexico, the country’s largest private employer with some 170,000 employees, told workers who felt ill to stay home. It also directed employees who are pregnant or nursing to stay home until May 6, said a spokesman, Antonio Ocaranza. Wal-Mart customers, though, were not necessarily following public health officials’ recommendations. At one crowded supermarket on Tuesday, most customers were not wearing masks.
Google said it had closed its Mexican City on Monday, although employees were working at home. “No decisions have been made for the rest of the week,” Google said in a released statement.
Spanish police officers at Madrid’s airport wore masks on Monday while checking passengers arriving from Mexico. Spain has had one confirmed swine flu case. More Photos >
Swine FluIn New York, both St. Francis Prep and P.S. 177 were closed, and St. Francis Prep will remain closed through the end of the week, Mayor Bloomberg said. City health officials arrived at P.S. 177 at noon to conduct investigations. A school nurse wearing a mask was examining sick students.
By 1:15 on Tuesday afternoon, parents were arriving early to pick up their children, who had been given a letter from the principal about the school closing because of students with flu-like symptoms.
“I freaked out,” said Karina Kelloggs, of Forest Hills, who was picking up her 7-year-old daughter.
Mary Ellen Do, who was picking up her niece, Holly Hagerty, said the school had stressed that there were no confirmed cases of swine flu. She added that Holly’s brother is a student at St. Francis, and suffered from flu-like symptoms but had tested negative for swine flu.
“But we’ve living with this flu,” Ms. Do said.
In Mexico, state health authorities looking for the initial source of the outbreak toured a million-pig hog farm in Perote, in Veracruz State. The plant is half-owned by Smithfield Foods, an American company and the world’s largest pork producer.
Mexico’s first known swine flu case, which was later confirmed, was from Perote, according to Health Minister José Ángel Córdova. The case involved a 5-year-old boy who recovered.
But a spokesman for the plant said the boy was not related to a plant worker and that none of its workers were sick.
On Tuesday, company officials allowed a reporter to tour their facilities after showering and donning a mask and sanitized clothing.
About 15,000 pigs could be seen in various enclosures, and officials said that at least three pig carcasses were on the farm. But they said the pigs had not died of influenza and insisted there had been no spike in deaths.
“We’re just as worried about this as everyone else,” said Mike Hawn, a Smithfield spokesman.
In Europe, Spanish Health Minister Trinidad Jiménez on Tuesday said Spain had confirmed a second case of swine flu, in the eastern province of Valencia, but that the patient was recovering..
Israel’s Ministry of Health on Tuesday reported the first case in the country. Smadar Shazo, a Health Ministry spokeswoman, said the man who contracted the illness, a 26-year-old, had recently returned from Mexico. Ms. Shazo said he is in good health now and is likely to be released from hospital on Wednesday. The Health Ministry later reported that a second man had contracted the flu as well, but his condition was unclear.
Hospital authorities in Scotland said two people — the first known cases of the virus in Britain — were recovering after contracting the flu while on honeymoon in Cancún, Mexico.
Canada now has 13 confirmed cases, all of which have been linked to Mexico.
David Williams, the chief medical officer of health for Ontario, said on Tuesday that the province, Canada’s most populous, has four confirmed cases. He said that another 20 people are undergoing tests.Dr. Williams offered few details about the patients beyond saying their cases were mild and that they live in the Toronto area.Ontario was the centre of a SARS outbreak that killed 43 Canadians in 2003.
Earlier in the day, the British Columbia Center for Disease Control confirmed a third case in that province. Alberta also confirmed two cases, with one in Calgary, the other in a northern region of the province.
Given extensive human-to-human transmission, the World Health Organization raised its global pandemic flu alert level on Monday, but it recommended that borders not be closed nor travel bans imposed, noting that that the virus had already spread and that infected travelers might not show any symptoms.
However, many countries are tightening border and immigration controls, and on Tuesday Britain advised against any nonessential travel to Mexico. Japan announced that it would no longer allow Mexican travelers to obtain visas upon arrival. The United States, France and Germany have also warned against nonessential travel to Mexico.
Canada had done the same, a decision that appeared to contradict the country’s campaign for international coordination of health-related travel advisories.
During the SARS outbreak in 2003, recommendations against visiting Canada severely impaired the country’s tourism industry. Canada said then that that warnings were unnecessary and has since promoted the idea that the W.H.O. should be the body which issues them.
At least nine countries in Asia were checking air passengers arriving from North America, and China was tightening land border checks as well. Hong Kong, Taiwan and Russia were set to quarantine passengers suspected of having the flu
The global response included more restrictions on travel to and from Mexico, the origin of the outbreak and the only country to have reported deaths from swine flu. Officials there shut down schools across the country and limited restaurant service in Mexico City in an effort to curb transmission of the virus, which has killed at least 152.
Israel confirmed its first two cases of swine flu, which is now in at least seven countries. Ten others including China and Russia, which were set to quarantine passengers suspected of having the flu, are investigating possible cases.
Dr. Richard Besser, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, termed the early days of swine flu in the United States as a “pre-pandemic period” and was blunt about the potential impact of this influenza.
“As this moves forward,” Dr. Besser said, “I fully expect that we will see deaths from this infection.”
He said that five people confirmed to have swine flu had been hospitalized in the United States — two in Texas and three in California, where Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency. Still, the nation’s highest number of cases continued to be in New York City, where 44 people were confirmed to have swine flu.
All of those cases are from same high school in Queens, St. Francis Preparatory Academy, where the outbreak was first discovered last Thursday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said at a news conference. But he said that two new potential outbreaks at schools were being investigated. At P.S. 177, near St. Francis Prep, 12 students had fevers, and at Ascension School, in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, six students showed flu-like symptoms. Students from both schools were still being tested.
In addition, Mayor Bloomberg said that there were five other cases being investigated: three more from Saint Francis and two others who had contact with people recently in Mexico: a 2-year-old Bronx boy who remains hospitalized but is recovering and a Brooklyn woman who has been released from a hospital.
“It is here and it is spreading,” Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the New York City Health Commissioner, said at the news conference at City Hall.
Dr. Frieden, however, said that the New York cases were mild and that the city had enough courses of Tamiflu stockpiled for one million people. He added that it was still “early” to determine the course of the virus.
In Washington, Congressional hearings addressed the seriousness of the outbreak.
“I really think we need to be prepared for the worsening of the situation,” Rear Adm. Anne Schuchat, the C.D.C.’s interim science and public health deputy director, told a Senate Appropriations health subcommittee. “It’s more of a marathon than a sprint,” she said, echoing what Dr. Besser had said on Sunday, when the country first declared swine flu a public health emergency.
Senator Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat who heads the subcommittee, noted that “there’s a lot of anxiety right now across the country.”
Still, that anxiety is not on the same scale as in Mexico, where the number of people believed to have been sickened in the country surpassed 1,600 on Tuesday.
The economic response to the health crisis rippled from Mexico throughout the globe: Cuba canceled all flights to Mexico. Carnival Cruise Lines said it had canceled Mexico stops for three of its cruise ships because of the swine flu alert, according to Reuters. So far, nine countries have some kind of ban on pork imports: China, Croatia, Indonesia, Lebanon, Russia, South Korea, Thailand, Ukraine and Ecuador.
Mexico City, meanwhile, was looking increasingly like a ghost town. On Tuesday morning, the city government ordered all restaurants, except those that serve take-out food, be closed until May 6. About 30,000 restaurants will be affected.
In some neighborhoods, restaurants had begun shutting down as early as last weekend. Cinemas, bars and discoteques have also been shut.
But the city has yet to make the decision to shut down public transportation, a move that would freeze most economic activity in the capital. Schools all over the country were closed Tuesday, affecting some 33 million students.
Citigroup’s Mexican subsidiary, Banamex, ran a newspaper ad asking customers to wear their masks and wash their hands. At bank branches, where employees have been told to wash their hands every hour, antiseptic gel dispensers were being installed. Banamex also asked customers to do as much banking by phone and Internet as possible.
Wal-Mart de Mexico, the country’s largest private employer with some 170,000 employees, told workers who felt ill to stay home. It also directed employees who are pregnant or nursing to stay home until May 6, said a spokesman, Antonio Ocaranza. Wal-Mart customers, though, were not necessarily following public health officials’ recommendations. At one crowded supermarket on Tuesday, most customers were not wearing masks.
Google said it had closed its Mexican City on Monday, although employees were working at home. “No decisions have been made for the rest of the week,” Google said in a released statement.
Spanish police officers at Madrid’s airport wore masks on Monday while checking passengers arriving from Mexico. Spain has had one confirmed swine flu case. More Photos >
Swine FluIn New York, both St. Francis Prep and P.S. 177 were closed, and St. Francis Prep will remain closed through the end of the week, Mayor Bloomberg said. City health officials arrived at P.S. 177 at noon to conduct investigations. A school nurse wearing a mask was examining sick students.
By 1:15 on Tuesday afternoon, parents were arriving early to pick up their children, who had been given a letter from the principal about the school closing because of students with flu-like symptoms.
“I freaked out,” said Karina Kelloggs, of Forest Hills, who was picking up her 7-year-old daughter.
Mary Ellen Do, who was picking up her niece, Holly Hagerty, said the school had stressed that there were no confirmed cases of swine flu. She added that Holly’s brother is a student at St. Francis, and suffered from flu-like symptoms but had tested negative for swine flu.
“But we’ve living with this flu,” Ms. Do said.
In Mexico, state health authorities looking for the initial source of the outbreak toured a million-pig hog farm in Perote, in Veracruz State. The plant is half-owned by Smithfield Foods, an American company and the world’s largest pork producer.
Mexico’s first known swine flu case, which was later confirmed, was from Perote, according to Health Minister José Ángel Córdova. The case involved a 5-year-old boy who recovered.
But a spokesman for the plant said the boy was not related to a plant worker and that none of its workers were sick.
On Tuesday, company officials allowed a reporter to tour their facilities after showering and donning a mask and sanitized clothing.
About 15,000 pigs could be seen in various enclosures, and officials said that at least three pig carcasses were on the farm. But they said the pigs had not died of influenza and insisted there had been no spike in deaths.
“We’re just as worried about this as everyone else,” said Mike Hawn, a Smithfield spokesman.
In Europe, Spanish Health Minister Trinidad Jiménez on Tuesday said Spain had confirmed a second case of swine flu, in the eastern province of Valencia, but that the patient was recovering..
Israel’s Ministry of Health on Tuesday reported the first case in the country. Smadar Shazo, a Health Ministry spokeswoman, said the man who contracted the illness, a 26-year-old, had recently returned from Mexico. Ms. Shazo said he is in good health now and is likely to be released from hospital on Wednesday. The Health Ministry later reported that a second man had contracted the flu as well, but his condition was unclear.
Hospital authorities in Scotland said two people — the first known cases of the virus in Britain — were recovering after contracting the flu while on honeymoon in Cancún, Mexico.
Canada now has 13 confirmed cases, all of which have been linked to Mexico.
David Williams, the chief medical officer of health for Ontario, said on Tuesday that the province, Canada’s most populous, has four confirmed cases. He said that another 20 people are undergoing tests.Dr. Williams offered few details about the patients beyond saying their cases were mild and that they live in the Toronto area.Ontario was the centre of a SARS outbreak that killed 43 Canadians in 2003.
Earlier in the day, the British Columbia Center for Disease Control confirmed a third case in that province. Alberta also confirmed two cases, with one in Calgary, the other in a northern region of the province.
Given extensive human-to-human transmission, the World Health Organization raised its global pandemic flu alert level on Monday, but it recommended that borders not be closed nor travel bans imposed, noting that that the virus had already spread and that infected travelers might not show any symptoms.
However, many countries are tightening border and immigration controls, and on Tuesday Britain advised against any nonessential travel to Mexico. Japan announced that it would no longer allow Mexican travelers to obtain visas upon arrival. The United States, France and Germany have also warned against nonessential travel to Mexico.
Canada had done the same, a decision that appeared to contradict the country’s campaign for international coordination of health-related travel advisories.
During the SARS outbreak in 2003, recommendations against visiting Canada severely impaired the country’s tourism industry. Canada said then that that warnings were unnecessary and has since promoted the idea that the W.H.O. should be the body which issues them.
At least nine countries in Asia were checking air passengers arriving from North America, and China was tightening land border checks as well. Hong Kong, Taiwan and Russia were set to quarantine passengers suspected of having the flu
Mexico imposes swine flu measures
Mexico City has banned restaurants and cafes from serving all food except takeaways in a bid to help prevent the spread of the deadly swine flu virus.
Schools across Mexico have closed and public gatherings are restricted, after more than 150 people are believed to have died from swine flu.
The number of cases globally is rising, though no-one outside Mexico has died.
The UN has called on countries to check their contingency plans for a possible global epidemic, or pandemic.
The UN's World Health Organization (WHO) chief Dr Keiji Fukuda said a pandemic was "a very serious possibility, but it is still too early to say that this is inevitable".
As officials in Mexico City announced the latest measures to stop the virus spreading, the city's chamber of trade estimated restrictions in the city were costing businesses there at least 777 million pesos ($57m or £39m) a day.
US cases confirmed
After Mexico - where the outbreak started - the US has the highest number of confirmed swine flu cases with 64.
President Barack Obama has asked Congress for an additional $1.5bn (£1bn) to bolster the US response.
CONFIRMED & SUSPECTED CASES
Mexico: 152 suspected deaths - 20 confirmed cases
US: 64 confirmed cases
Canada: 13 confirmed cases
New Zealand: 3 confirmed cases
UK, Spain, Israel: 2 confirmed cases each
Countries with suspected cases: Brazil, Guatemala, Peru, Australia, and South Korea, and seven EU states
In pictures: Swine flu spreads
Life at centre of the outbreak
Swine flu: Your experiences
Mapping the outbreak
In California, where there have been 11 cases, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency as a precautionary measure but stressed there was "no need for alarm".
In another development, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation is sending a team to investigate claims that industrial pig farms in Mexico were the source of the outbreak in humans.
The agency's chief veterinary officer, Joseph Domenech, told the BBC that the FAO had to act following rumours that people had been falling ill last month near some intensive pig farms .
Other countries around the world to have confirmed swine flu cases are Canada, New Zealand, Spain, Israel and the UK.
Several other countries are investigating suspected cases including Australia, Brazil, France, Chile and Denmark.
The WHO says it is "critical" that travellers from Mexico who might be infected be identified, but it has advised against countries imposing border restrictions or travel bans, saying such measures do no work.
Some countries in Asia, Latin America and Europe are screening airport passengers for symptoms, while tour operators in France and Germany have suspended trips to Mexico.
Flights stopped
Cuba also suspended flights to and from Mexico for 48 hours from Tuesday and a Canadian tour operator, Air Transat, said it was also halting flights to Mexico until 1 June.
The WHO raised its pandemic alert status to level four on Monday - two levels from a full pandemic - after concluding there had been sustained transmission between humans.
Levels five and six are reserved for when there is widespread human infection.
In almost all cases outside Mexico, people have been only mildly ill and have made a full recovery.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday it may abandon the term swine flu because some people wrongly think they can catch it from pork.
Pork producers in the US and Brazil are pushing for the name 'swine' to be changed , saying it is damaging their business.
China, Russia and Ukraine have all banned pork imports from Mexico and parts of the US since the outbreak began.
Schools across Mexico have closed and public gatherings are restricted, after more than 150 people are believed to have died from swine flu.
The number of cases globally is rising, though no-one outside Mexico has died.
The UN has called on countries to check their contingency plans for a possible global epidemic, or pandemic.
The UN's World Health Organization (WHO) chief Dr Keiji Fukuda said a pandemic was "a very serious possibility, but it is still too early to say that this is inevitable".
As officials in Mexico City announced the latest measures to stop the virus spreading, the city's chamber of trade estimated restrictions in the city were costing businesses there at least 777 million pesos ($57m or £39m) a day.
US cases confirmed
After Mexico - where the outbreak started - the US has the highest number of confirmed swine flu cases with 64.
President Barack Obama has asked Congress for an additional $1.5bn (£1bn) to bolster the US response.
CONFIRMED & SUSPECTED CASES
Mexico: 152 suspected deaths - 20 confirmed cases
US: 64 confirmed cases
Canada: 13 confirmed cases
New Zealand: 3 confirmed cases
UK, Spain, Israel: 2 confirmed cases each
Countries with suspected cases: Brazil, Guatemala, Peru, Australia, and South Korea, and seven EU states
In pictures: Swine flu spreads
Life at centre of the outbreak
Swine flu: Your experiences
Mapping the outbreak
In California, where there have been 11 cases, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency as a precautionary measure but stressed there was "no need for alarm".
In another development, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation is sending a team to investigate claims that industrial pig farms in Mexico were the source of the outbreak in humans.
The agency's chief veterinary officer, Joseph Domenech, told the BBC that the FAO had to act following rumours that people had been falling ill last month near some intensive pig farms .
Other countries around the world to have confirmed swine flu cases are Canada, New Zealand, Spain, Israel and the UK.
Several other countries are investigating suspected cases including Australia, Brazil, France, Chile and Denmark.
The WHO says it is "critical" that travellers from Mexico who might be infected be identified, but it has advised against countries imposing border restrictions or travel bans, saying such measures do no work.
Some countries in Asia, Latin America and Europe are screening airport passengers for symptoms, while tour operators in France and Germany have suspended trips to Mexico.
Flights stopped
Cuba also suspended flights to and from Mexico for 48 hours from Tuesday and a Canadian tour operator, Air Transat, said it was also halting flights to Mexico until 1 June.
The WHO raised its pandemic alert status to level four on Monday - two levels from a full pandemic - after concluding there had been sustained transmission between humans.
Levels five and six are reserved for when there is widespread human infection.
In almost all cases outside Mexico, people have been only mildly ill and have made a full recovery.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday it may abandon the term swine flu because some people wrongly think they can catch it from pork.
Pork producers in the US and Brazil are pushing for the name 'swine' to be changed , saying it is damaging their business.
China, Russia and Ukraine have all banned pork imports from Mexico and parts of the US since the outbreak began.
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