Thailand's cabinet meets urgently, spending 25 million USD against influenza A / H1N1

Thailand's cabinet yesterday (July 14) approved a $ 25 million budget to buy vaccines and antiviral drugs in the fight against influenza A / H1N1 that killed 24 people in the country.

Accordingly, the money will be spent to buy 2 million doses of vaccine to prevent disease and 10 million anti-viral pills, government spokesman Thai Phumin Leetheeraprasert told reporters.

"The Cabinet agreed to use 600 million baht ($ 17.7 million) to buy two million doses of vaccine from Sanofi Paster of France and 250 million baht to buy 10 million anti-viral pills ," Phumin said.

On the morning of July 14, Thai health authorities confirmed three more deaths from the H1N1 virus, bringing the total number of deaths due to influenza A to 24, the number of people infected has exceeded 4,000.

The strong spread of the A / H1N1 flu and the rapid increase in deaths caused Thailand to convene a special cabinet meeting to discuss anti-epidemic measures. The Bangkok government also announced the closure of 435 schools, 200 kindergartens and 13 vocational centers within 5 days from July 15.

Tourists wear flu masks in Bangkok, Thailand (Photo: AFP)

A vaccine factory opened in southern Bangkok on Sunday, hoping to produce two million doses of vaccine against another A / H1N1 flu in January.

The latest deaths reported by Thailand include: a woman with diabetes, 57 years of age, died on Sunday, a person with lung cancer, 67 years of death in Bangkok and a woman with inflammation lungs, 32 years old, died in the neighboring province of Samut Sakhon today.

The Thai Ministry of Health confirmed 176 more people with the flu, bringing the total number of people infected with the H1N1 virus in the country to 4,057.

In terms of news related to influenza A / H1N1 in the world , Australia is trying to launch an anti-pandemic vaccination campaign if necessary. Meanwhile, both Britain, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, the Philippines and Thailand have reported new cases of deaths from A / H1N1 flu yesterday.

South Korea has not yet announced a victim of death from the new influenza virus, but has also ordered a vaccine to be used for 13 million people - equivalent to more than a quarter of the population. The Ministry of Health today confirmed 40 more cases of influenza, including 24 Indonesians who came to Korea last week to participate in a world choir competition. Currently this competition has been postponed.

This week, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region announced that it had and will buy A / H1N1 influenza vaccines that are sufficient for two million high-risk people.

Currently, the number of people who die from new flu globally is at least 429 people. WHO's director of vaccine research Marie-Paul Kieny said yesterday that the A / H1N1 flu vaccine could be " released " in September. The flu has spread and caused more than 94,500 people worldwide to become ill.

A US study this week warned that influenza A / H1N1 could select genes from other flu to be able to transform into a more contagious form, have a higher virulence or become resistant to Tamiflu. .

Saudi Arabia decided to close an international school in Riyadh after 20 students in the school caught the flu.