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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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WHO: Swine flu kills over 700 worldwide
Source: Agencies |
July 22, 2009, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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THE worldwide death toll from swine flu has doubled in the past month, reaching over 700 since the start of the outbreak, the World Health Organization said yesterday.
The UN health agency also said it is examining how countries can tackle the explosion in cases predicted this fall, when students and workers in the northern hemisphere return from summer vacation.
Experts say closing schools can help break the chain of transmission, though at risk of considerable economic cost according to a paper to be published in next month's edition of the medical journal The Lancet.
The agency has stressed that although the disease is "unstoppable" in the long term, slowing its spread is important to prevent hospitals being overwhelmed by the sheer number of new cases.
WHO stopped asking governments to report infections last week, saying it was "extremely difficult, if not impossible," for countries with large numbers of cases to keep track of each new one.
But the Stockholm-based European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, ECDC, said on Monday there had been over 2,300 new reported cases in 24 hours, taking the global total to almost 140,000. Many more could have gone undetected as in most cases the virus causes only mild illness that does not require medical treatment.
The Lancet paper, written by researchers at London's Imperial College, argues that school closures would allow more time for a vaccine to be produced and administered widely. Estimates for when this might be the case vary from September to the end of the year.
Slowing the pandemic would also limit the burden on national health care systems and reduce the peak in worker absenteeism.
France is among the countries reportedly considering school closures, though decisions would be made on a case-by-case basis, Le Parisien daily reported last week.
France's Education Ministry has already prepared nearly 300 hours of educational programming for radio and television to allow those affected by school closures to follow their lessons, the newspaper said.
The UN health agency also said it is examining how countries can tackle the explosion in cases predicted this fall, when students and workers in the northern hemisphere return from summer vacation.
Experts say closing schools can help break the chain of transmission, though at risk of considerable economic cost according to a paper to be published in next month's edition of the medical journal The Lancet.
The agency has stressed that although the disease is "unstoppable" in the long term, slowing its spread is important to prevent hospitals being overwhelmed by the sheer number of new cases.
WHO stopped asking governments to report infections last week, saying it was "extremely difficult, if not impossible," for countries with large numbers of cases to keep track of each new one.
But the Stockholm-based European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, ECDC, said on Monday there had been over 2,300 new reported cases in 24 hours, taking the global total to almost 140,000. Many more could have gone undetected as in most cases the virus causes only mild illness that does not require medical treatment.
The Lancet paper, written by researchers at London's Imperial College, argues that school closures would allow more time for a vaccine to be produced and administered widely. Estimates for when this might be the case vary from September to the end of the year.
Slowing the pandemic would also limit the burden on national health care systems and reduce the peak in worker absenteeism.
France is among the countries reportedly considering school closures, though decisions would be made on a case-by-case basis, Le Parisien daily reported last week.
France's Education Ministry has already prepared nearly 300 hours of educational programming for radio and television to allow those affected by school closures to follow their lessons, the newspaper said.
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