June 15, 2009
BANGKOK (AFP) - Thai health authorities said on Monday they would step up the monitoring of workplaces and schools after the number of swine flu cases soared twelvefold in less than a week.
The health ministry confirmed a further 51 cases of the A(H1N1) virus overnight, taking the number in the kingdom, a key hub for international tourism, to 201.
"The ministry will step up monitoring measures for crowded areas to prevent the spread of flu," Health Minister Witthaya Keawparadai told reporters, specifying factories and schools in particular.
He said epidemiology experts believed that A(H1N1) infections in Thailand would peak in July but that educating people about the virus would help keep numbers down.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Sunday urged Thais not to panic about the growing number of swine flu cases, especially after a cluster emerged in a key tourist resort.
Twenty-one new infections were found among nightclub workers in the coastal city of Pattaya last week, while a Hong Kong visitor may also have contracted the virus on the southern island of Phuket.
Thailand had its first reported case of swine flu on May 12 and its first domestic case in early June but there have been no fatalities.
The World Health Organization raised its global alert to a maximum six on Thursday, saying swine flu had reached pandemic status because of its geographical spread.
