theSun | TUESDAY MAY 19 2009 3

news without borders

No freeze on
Malaysia may be declared visas for umrah
PUTRAJAYA: Minister in the Prime Minister’s Dep-
artment Maj-Gen (R) Datuk Jamil Khir Baharom has

free of local transmission

by Husna Yusop
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia could be declared
free of the local transmission of influenza
A (H1N1) tomorrow if no new cases are
detected, deputy health director-general
Datuk Dr Ramlee Rahmat said.
“This is based on the calculation that
the virus’ incubation period is seven
days from the day the first case was
detected on May 13,” he said. It normally
takes between one and four days to be
transmitted, he said.
“The virus has not yet spread in Ma-
laysia. The two cases we detected were
from a particular country. So they could
have been infected there,” Ramlee told a
media briefing at the ministry yesterday.
“If we look at the exposure on May
13 and take seven days as the home
quarantine period, then all should end
on May 20. So after that, perhaps we can
say there is no local transmission.”
Ramlee said the passengers and crew
of AirAsia’s AK5358 from the Low Cost
Carrier Terminal in Sepang to Penang,
who were being traced, would also be
under home quarantine until tomorrow.
As of 8am yesterday, Ramlee said, of
the 102 passengers (including a female
student in Penang Hospital’s isolation
ward) and six crew members on board
the flight, only 33 passengers and four
crew had been traced.
“They are under home quarantine and
all are in good health. In the meantime, 69
passengers and 17 (who were on Malay-
sia Airlines flight MH091 from Newark,
New Jersey) were still being traced.”
Ramlee said information available
showed that 83 of the passengers are
Malaysians and the rest foreigners who
may no longer be in the country.
Meanwhile, the National Crisis
Preparedness and Response Centre
had, as of yesterday morning, received
111 notifications of people admitted to
hospitals nationwide with flu symptoms,
all of whom tested negative for H1N1,
except for two 21-year-old students (who
returned from Newark).
Ramlee said the male student, who
was in the Sungai Buloh Hospital’s isola-
tion ward, was in stable condition with-
out any cough or sore throat, and only a
mild fever, while the female student had
recovered from a fever and was receiv-
ing treatment at the Penang Hospital.
Family members of both patients
were under home quarantine and in
good health.
Ramlee said the World Health Or-
ganisation had confirmed Ecuador as
the latest country to be included in the
list of H1N1-affected countries, giving a
total of 39.
There were 8,829 H1N1 confirmed
cases as of yesterday – an increase of
267 from the day before – with 208 in
Mexico, United Kingdom (19), Hongkong
(1), Argentina (25), Panama (11), China
(1), Belgium (1) and Turkey (1).
To date, 110,153 passengers have
been screened at various entry points.
One passenger at KLIA was yesterday
referred to the Sungai Buloh Hospital for
further tests.
refuted reports of Saudi Arabia having imposed a
temporary freeze on the issuance of visas to Malay-
sians performing the umrah following the detection
of influenza A (H1N1) cases in the country.
He said that as of yesterday, visas were still be-
ing approved and all umrah affairs were progress-
ing smoothly. “We checked with our office in Mecca
last night and this morning, but there was no news
of a freeze on the issuance of visas to Malaysians,”
Jamil told reporters after visiting the Precinct 3
mosque complex project here yesterday.
Tian Chua He advised the public to verify information first
told to as unsubstantiated reports could create uneasiness
among the public and umrah organisers.
enter Citing a report by the Arab News, a local news-
defence paper yesterday reported that visas would not be
for issued to Malaysians as part of measures to contain
the spread of H1N1.
injuring Asked about a suggestion by Egypt’s grand mufti
cop Sheikh Ali Jumua that ulama in all Muslim countries
pg 5 issue a fatwa to postpone this year’s haj pilgrimage
because of the epidemic, Jamil said it was just a
proposal. “Not all suggestions can be implemented.
The haj season is still far away – in November – and
maybe at that time the epidemic would no longer
be a problem.”
Jamil also said an 11% haj fare increase this
season was reasonable, adding that a hike was
unavoidable due to the increased cost of accom-
modation, transportation and food.
He said Tabung Haji was still subsidising 26% of
the total expenditure, which amounts to at least
RM70 million this season.
Tabung Haji announced on Friday that the haj

Only six turn ORIENTAL DAILYPIX

up for H1N1
screening
by Hemananthani Sivanandam
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
SUNGAI BULOH: Only six people turned
up to be screened for the A (H1N1) flu at
the Sungai Buloh Hospital where the first
Malaysian patient confirmed to be carrying
the virus was admitted on Friday.
The first two people, a man and a
woman who arrived at 9.45am, were given
face masks and told to sit under a tent put
up outside the emergency department.
Security was tight and no one but medi-
cal officers were allowed to approach the
tent.
Five minutes later, the woman was
escorted into the emergency ward by an
officer.
At 10.05am, two men approached the
counter and were also told to sit under the
tent. Five minutes later, all three men were
escorted into the emergency ward.
About an hour later, J. Jayaganesh, 29,
and N. Thilisvaran, 21, stepped out of the
emergency department.
They told reporters they were pas-
sengers on AirAsia’s AK5358 on the same
day that two students flew in to KL Interna-
tional Airport from Newark, New Jersey on
Malaysia Airlines flight MH091. One of the
students was confirmed as the country’s
second H1N1 patient, now recovering in
Penang Hospital’s isolation ward.
fare would be RM9,980 compared to RM8,973
previously, with total expenditure per person
expected to be around RM12,600. – Bernama
‘Stop rumours of
disease at camp’
GEORGE TOWN: The public is urged not to
speculate or spread rumours about the spread
of the A (H1N1) virus or the recent leptospirosis
bacterial infection at the Juru Detention Camp.
Environment, health, welfare and caring so-
ciety committee chairman Phee Boon Poh said
speculations may cause unnecessary panic
among the public.
“To spare any confusion on H1N1 and lept-
ospirosis, official statements on these diseases
will only be released by the Health Ministry,”
he said in a telephone interview.
Phee said it was now the prerogative of
the ministry to release the statistics and latest
information on the diseases.
The ministry had, as at 8am yesterday,
announced that 19 inmates of the Juru
Prevention... camp were still being treated at a hospital
for leptospirosis, while three others had
A teacher at the Confucian Secondary
been discharged. Phee said 23 inmates had
School in Kuala Lumpur shows his students
been quarantined in the camp and all were
the proper way to wear a protective mask. The
responding well to treatment.
masks were contributed by an anonymous donor.
Last week, a 21-year-old Myanmar illegal
immigrant from the camp died of leptospirosis at
the Bukit Mertajam Hospital. Twenty-six others
were admitted. Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease
caused by exposure to water contaminated with
edness and Response Centre is still worrying experts because the urine of infected animals. Humans can only
received nine notifications of flu most patients are young adults, become infected through contact with water, food
briefs cases – Sungai Buloh Hospital (4),
Kangar Hospital (2), Tuanku Ja’afar
teens and children.
Globally, the virus has been
or soil containing urine from infected animals.

Jayaganesh and Thilisvaran were cleared

by the hospital authorities but were advised
to stay at home until today as a precaution.
The two said they did not present any symp-
toms of the flu but had come for a check “to
be on the safe side”.
However, Jayaganesh said the emer-
gency department staff “were slow”.
“It’s a virus, so they should have taken
immediate action, but I was left waiting
there for almost 45 minutes,” he said.
Hospital personnel remained tight-
lipped about the number of screenings or
the procedures for screening.
A check on the World Health Organisa-
tion website showed that 40 countries
have officially reported 8,829 cases of H1N1
infection.
Mexico remains the worst affected with
66 deaths and 2,895 laboratory confirmed
human infections. The United States has
reported 5,123 cases including six deaths,
Canada 496 cases including one death, and
Costa Rica nine cases including one death.
7 on Newark flight
home quarantined
PETALING JAYA: Seven of the
24 passengers who travelled on
Malaysia Airlines MH091 from
Newark, New Jersey, to KL Inter-
national Airport on May 13 have
been traced and placed under
home quarantine.
A Health Ministry statement
said all seven “are healthy” as of
now.
Thirty-three passengers and
four crew members out of the
102 passengers and six crew
members on board AirAsia’s
AK5358 last Wednesday have also
been traced and placed under
home quarantine. The remaining
69 passengers are in the process
of being verified.
Yesterday, the Crisis Prepar-
Hospital (2) and Sultan Aminah
Hospital, Johor Baru (1). All tested
negative for A (H1N1).
Flu spreads in Japan,
one dead in NY
TOKYO: Japan confirmed
yesterday 163 people, many of
whom had not been abroad,
had been infected with the
new strain of H1N1 flu after
New York recorded its first
death from the virus and Chile
reported its first two cases.
The US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention reported
yesterday the flu is circulating in
48 states, with six deaths and
5,123 confirmed cases.
CDC experts have said it is
likely more than 100,000 people
are really infected with the virus,
which appears mild but which
confirmed in 8,829 people in 40
countries, killing 74 – most in
Mexico. – Agencies
WHO resists
declaring pandemic
GENEVA: The World Health
Organisation yesterday resisted
pressure to declare a full-fledged
pandemic even as H1N1 cases in
Japan and the US soared.
WHO chief Margaret Chan told
member states on the first day
of the UN health body’s annual
assembly they may be facing a
“calm before the storm”, but that
the organisation had so far held
off on raising the alert.
“We remain in phase five.”
She issued a warning about the
possibility of the virus interacting
with other viruses, saying the world
was right to be concerned. – AFP
Herb, mask prices
to be monitored
PETALING JAYA: Masks and Chinese herbs used
to cool the body are important to help prevent the
spread of the H1N1 flu and their prices should not
be increased, Deputy Domestic Trade and Con-
sumer Affairs Minister Datuk Tan Lian Hoe said.
She said she was perturbed at news reports
that there would be increases in prices of masks
and Chinese herbs soon.
“For instance, a packet of Chinese herbs for four
persons being sold at RM5 will soon be increased
to RM8,” Tan said.
“We will monitor the prices as they are es-
sential and widely used in view of the global H1N1
outbreak.”
She said it was unscrupulous to take advantage
of the situation.
A bag of N95 model masks is currently sold
for RM5, while normal masks cost 50sen to 70sen
each.