Swine Flu: Singaporeans Should Be Prepared

By Zakaria Abdul Wahab

SINGAPORE, April 29 (Bernama) -- Singaporeans have been told to be "mentally and psychologically" prepared in facing the current global swine flu outbreak as it is expected to be a long-drawn one, the city state's top ministers said.

Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng and Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said they also had to remain alert at all times and not to be unduly alarmed even if Singapore could possibly be hit by the flu.

Speaking at a press conference to update on the swine flu outbreak at the Information, Communications and the Arts Ministry here today, Wong said the government was treating the swine flu outbreak as not a medical problem but a total problem that required medical and non-medical response.

He said, unlike during the SARS crisis in 2003 when the government was ill-prepared to handle it, the country was now more prepared to deal with the swine flu outbreak and was deploying resources across all government departments to tackle it.

Wong said swine flu was different from SARS as the victims could not be easily identified and separated from the general public as the symptoms of the flu were only visible and known after a week.

Khaw said as the swine flu was more contagious and spread more rapidly, Singaporeans should maintain a high standard of personal hygiene such as washing their hands before eating, and covering their face when coughing or sneezing.

Describing it as a new war, he said the swine flu was more difficult to deal with and more challenging, and he gave three reasons for saying that.

Firstly, he said the swine flu was more contagious; secondly, patients could be infected before symptoms appeared, and lastly, historically, flu pandemic tended to come in waves with the initial wave looking mild but the second one could be quite lethal.

Since the global flu outbreak, only 17 cases had been referred to the local medical institutions for checks for swine flu, and so far, four of the cases were tested negative for Influenza A, the virus type associated with swine flu.-- BERNAMA