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H1N1 situation ‘worrying’

THIRD RELATED DEATH REPORTED AS LOCAL
INFLUENZA A(H1N1) HOTLINE
TRANSMISSION SPREADS RAPIDLY » 03-88810200/300
» 03-88834414/415
by Husna Yusop Liow said 1,198 (98%) cases have
newsdesk@thesundaily.com recovered, 12 cases were receiving anti-
TIONS
CONVERSA
viral treatment in hospitals, and nine Lumpur on July 18.
PUTRAJAYA: A third case of Influenza were receiving anti-viral treatment at “He was referred to the hospital
A(H1N1) related death was reported home. because his situation was deteriorat-
t Asia are
yesterday involving a 42-year-old man He said the H1N1 technical commit- ing. While there, he was found to have Countries in Southeaschange.
who had been sick since July 6 and un- tee, meeting for the seventh time today, diabetes and his chest x-ray showed vulnerable to clima te
s, haze are
dergoing outpatient treatment in private has been told to take note of the serious- symptoms of pneumonia,” he said. Flood, drought, stormin which
clinics and hospitals. ness of the situation. “On July 19, he was transferred to the
extreme ev en ts he re
At the same time, Health Minister “We at the ministry will continue to affected
the frequency will be
Intensive Care Unit after having difficul-
Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said, 95 enforce social distancing strictly, includ- ties breathing and in need of ventilator ge.
new cases (including the death) were ing organising awareness campaign by climate chan
assistance.” g, head of UKM’s
- Prof Fredolin Tangan
reported, all local transmissions involv- activities to make sure everybody takes The patient had his throat swab Research Centre for
ing Malaysians. ownership of this pandemic. We have to sample tested on July 22 and confirmed System
Tropical Climate Change
Sixty-eight were from 19 new clus- take concerted efforts to stop the spread,” positive H1N1 the next day.
ters, 22 from the existing 11 clusters, and he said. However, he had gone through com-
the remaining five were sporadic cases. He urged all patients with flu, cough- plications and died on Monday because
“The situation is worrying. Our local ing and sore throat to visit the hospitals of severe pneumonia with multi-organ
transmission is spreading very fast. We immediately and not to take the situation failure. Institutes, NS camp closed
have 19 new clusters as of today. This lightly even though their situation may Liow criticised the private clinics and
is not a good sign,” Liow told a press not be severe. GEORGE TOWN: Three institutes of learning and
hospitals for not taking action quickly
conference at his ministry. On the new a National Service camp in Penang have been
to check for H1N1 as the three deaths
“Although there is no death case, the closed down as at noon yesterday after cases of
showed treatment had come very late.
sustained local trans- patient was the Influenza A(H1N1) were confirmed.
“From this (latest) case, you can see
mission, the existence H1N1 figures confirmed posi- They are the Industrial Training Institute in
that this patient had gone round a few
of new clusters is a sign (as of 8am yesterday) tive of H1N1 on Nibong Tebal, Bukit Mertajam Health Ministry
clinics since he was not well from July
that it is beginning to Thursday after Nursing Training Institute, Malaysia Airports Hold-
6 until July 18, when his condition was
become a community
transmission.”
» New cases: 95 having been
diagnosed with
deteriorating, but yet the clinic didn’t
take any swab sample for H1N1,” he The parents
ings Berhad Training Centre, and the Syruz NS
camp in Seberang Perai Tengah.
As of yesterday,
there were 1,219 ac-
» Imported cases: 0 pneumonia by
a private clinic
said.
“So, I would like to urge all clinics
with copies
of the
Environment, health, welfare and caring soci-
ety committee chairman Phee Boon Poh said in
a statement cluster cases of those infected with
cumulated cases, with
three deaths. Of the
» Local transmissions: 95 which had
referred him to
and hospitals to be vigilant, to be effec-
tive and to take immediate action and
memorandum
they will be H1N1 were reported in the four places.
“The NS camp has 28 suspected cases and the
total, 645 or 53% were sending to
local transmissions. » Total no. of cases: 1,219 a private hos-
pital in Kuala
measures in any suspected influenza
case.” the Education
Ministry.
trainees have been sent to the hospital for further
tests,” he said.

Earlier mid-term break

ZULKIFLI ERSAL/THESUN
Give option to learn in KUALA LUMPUR: Universiti Putra Malaysia
(UPM) will start its mid-term break today, two
weeks earlier than scheduled, to control the

English, say parents

by Karen Arukesamy
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: A group of
parents have initiated a signature
campaign to urge the Education
Ministry to give the option to schools
to teach science and mathematics
in English.
A joint statement issued by the
parents said: “Malaysia has a large
number of families whose mother
tongue is English. Let them have the
choice to teach their children in their
mother tongue.”
At a press conference held at
Sekolah Seri Suria, a private school
in Hulu Langat, a spokesman for the
group, Shariran Shaari , said: “We are
not against the government’s plan to
revert the teaching of science and
mathematics to Bahasa Malaysia
but we are urging the government
to at least give the option to the
students to choose whether they
want to learn the subjects in English
or Bahasa Malaysia.”
He said there are 1,500
students studying in the school
and a majority of them speaks
English.
“Bahasa Malaysia is our na-
tional language whereas English
is the global and cyberspace
language and at Seri Suria, we
place equal importance on both
the languages,” Shariran said.
He said that initially, he was
upset when the government an-
nounced that the subjects will be
taught in Bahasa Malaysia again
in 2012, but after reading various
reports and opinions online, he “re-
alised the difficulties faced by the
schools in the rural areas”.
“However, there are several
schools that have adapted well in
learning both the subjects in English.
Likewise, many of the students here
(at Seri Suria) are doing well in both
the subjects in English,” he said.
The school has sufficient resourc-
es and teachers who can teach the
subjects in English and the students
have
shown good progress in their
examination results.
The parents have obtained more
than 450 signatures from parents,
whose children are studying in Seri
Suria, and they will be sending a
memorandum to urge the ministry
to allow the students to continue
learning science and mathematics
in English.
Another parent, Elizabeth George,
said
they are also concerned about
their children’s future.
“When you talk to people in the
jobs market or employers, they say
that those who cannot communicate
in English are completely left out.
Although they possess professional
skills, they are not compatible with
those who possess both skills and
language proficiency.
“Thus, the future of our children
is at stake.”
spread of Influenza A(H1N1).
It is learnt that four UPM students have
tested positive for the virus so far. Two are
undergoing home quarantine and the other
two are quarantined at the hostel.
Bernama understands the number would
increase as several others were being tested
after showing symptoms of the disease.
UPM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Nik
Mustapha R. Abdullah said in a statement the
decision for an earlier mid-term break, from
today until Aug 4, was made on the Health
Ministry’s advice. – Bernama
UK preparedness questioned
LONDON: The government has failed in some
of its preparations for pandemic flu and must
now explain how health services will handle an
expected second wave of H1N1 flu later this year,
a parliamentary committee said yesterday.
The science and technology committee urged
the government to set out how intensive and criti-
cal care facilities will cope with the pandemic and
to be open about where there are weaknesses in
critical care services which must be addressed.
In a report, begun last year, of the government’s
preparedness for pandemic flu, the House of
Lords committee said it had “significant concerns”
about delays in getting the National Pandemic Flu
Service (NPFS) up and running. – Reuters

Help us, seafood processing plants urge govt

Ch’ng (centre) says the factories need to
resume exports to the EU fast.
by Opalyn Mok
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
GEORGE TOWN: The seafood
processing industry has called for
help from the government. Other-
wise, it says, many of its factories
will close down or forced to retrench
their workers.
The industry may be producing
high-quality seafood but it is still
feeling the effects of its recent ban
on exports to the European Union
(EU), it said.
Although the ban was lifted in
March, only six companies are al-
lowed to export to the EU and 37
others are still waiting for the green
light from the Ministry of Health.
Malaysian Frozen Foods Proces-
sors Association (MFFPA) chairman
Ch’ng Chin Hooi said yesterday
that since the ban, imposed by the
ministry in June last year, many of
the companies had suffered heavy
losses because their primary market
was the EU.
“The seafood export industry
rakes in RM2 billion and exports to
the EU bring in about RM600 million
annually and because of the ban,
at least 30% of the members have
slowed down their operations or
even stopped production,” he said.
Appealing to the prime minister
to help the industry, Ch’ng said the
factories were not able to buy any
locally-caught seafood for raw mate-
rial because the ministry had yet to
audit and approve the local fishing
boats and seafood farms.
If this continued, many of the
factories may be forced to shut
down or cut cost by retrenching
their employees.
“This could, in the end, affect
the livelihood of between 10,000
and 15,000 people down the line,
including fishermen and seafood
farms,” he said.
The association also took the
government to task over its promise
of a RM500 million “soft loan”, made
in July last year, to the members to
help them during the EU ban.
“It has been 14 months and after
numerous meetings, we were told
it is not a soft loan but just like any
commercial loan that we have to
apply through Agro Bank,” he said.