June 16, 2009
BANGKOK (AFP) - Thailand said Tuesday it would distribute one million public health booklets about swine flu after the number of infections rose more than 20-fold in a week with a cluster of student infections.
The health ministry confirmed a further 109 cases of the A(H1N1) virus overnight, taking the number in the kingdom, a key hub for international tourism, to 310 from 13 last Tuesday.
The new cases included 84 students, most of whom were believed to have contracted the disease domestically, it said.
"We will in the next few days distribute one million booklets on how the public should behave to avoid contracting swine flu," Deputy Public Health Minister Manit Nopamornbodi told reporters before a weekly cabinet meeting.
He also urged the public to wear masks for protection.
Manit said the government had enough antiviral drugs to cope with the situation but said that they were being used only where necessary.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at the weekend warned Thais not to panic about the virus, but an increasing number of people are wearing masks on public transport and the streets of Bangkok.
Local newspapers carried pictures on Tuesday of municipal workers scrubbing a main street in the beach resort of Pattaya to prevent the spread of the virus and reassure tourists.
Twenty-one new infections were found among nightclub workers in 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.
