Swine flu hits Mexico, US, Canada; alert raised in RP

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang assured the public on Sunday that the Philippines had ready taken steps to keep the deadly swine flu virus, which can infect humans, from entering the country, according to a GMA Flash Report. President Arroyo has directed Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap to draft specific steps necessary to prevent an outbreak. So far, Yap has already ordered a ban on hogs and pork products from the US and Mexico. Press Secretary Cerge Remonde made the announcement on Sunday evening as reports of swine flu cases continued to be reported abroad, mostly in Mexico, where the disease has already killed 81 people and likely to have sickened more than 1,300, according to the Associated Press. The US also declared a public health emergency to deal with the emerging new swine flu, with 20 cases so far having been reported in five states. Mexico's health minister said the disease has killed up to 86 people and likely sickened more than 1,400 since April 13. In Canada, Nova Scotia's chief public health officer says the east coast Canadian province has four confirmed cases of swine flu. Chief Public Health officer Dr. Robert Strang says Sunday that four students from King's-Edgehill School in Nova Scotia ranging in age from 12 to 17 or 18 are recovering. All of them had what he describes as "very mild" cases of the flu. Canadian officials are planning a briefing Sunday in Ottawa on the swine flu situation, which the World Health Organization has declared to be a "public health emergency of international concern." World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan held teleconferences with staff and flu experts around the world but stopped short of recommending specific measures to stop the disease, urging governments to step up their surveillance of suspicious outbreaks. Governments including China, Russia, and Taiwan began planning to put anyone with symptoms of the deadly virus under quarantine. Others were increasing their screening of pigs and pork imports from the Americas or banning them outright despite health officials' reassurances that it was safe to eat thoroughly cooked pork. Some nations issued travel warnings for Mexico. Chan called the outbreak a public health emergency of "pandemic potential" because the virus can pass from human to human. People, however, cannot get the virus by eating pork but probably by being exposed to an infected pig, according to Dr. Eric Tayag, chief of the Philippines' National Epidemiology Center. - GMANews.TV, with AP reports