North Korea confirms H1N1 flu cases

[caonacl]

North Korea confirms H1N1 flu cases Posted: 09 December 2009 0804 hrs SEOUL: North Korea on Wednesday for the first time announced cases of H1N1 flu, confirming overseas reports of an outbreak in the communist state. The health ministry has reported nine cases of (A) H1N1 in the capital Pyongyang and in the city of Sinuiju on the Chinese border, the official Korean Central News Agency said. It noted that the flu outbreak was reported "amid the growing (number) of its victims worldwide". Authorities put a quarantine system in place to prevent the spread of the virus and centres have been set up nationwide to check for new cases, the news agency said. South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak told his government on Tuesday to provide swift medical help to the North following reports of H1N1 flu there. Good Friends, a Seoul-based aid group that has contacts in the North, reported on Monday the flu has been spreading rapidly because the anti-viral drug Tamiflu is rare there. "Assistance must be provided swiftly as the disease could quickly spread in North Korea where conditions are not so good. It's better to send drugs unconditionally," Lee was quoted as saying. Good Friends said seven youths, including three college students, died in Pyongyang in November while two others reportedly died in Pyongsong, north of the capital. Last Friday, North Korean schools started winter vacation a month early following a joint meeting of health and education ministry officials, the group said. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...023543/1/.html

[caonacl]

N. Korea Importing Tamiflu for Top Officials Only’ DECEMBER 09, 2009 09:02 North Korea is known to have secured Tamiflu in the wake of its first case of H1N1 influenza reported in May, but only for high-ranking government officials. The South Korean civic group for North Korean human rights Good Friends said yesterday that the North has secured large doses of vaccines against the flu and anti-viral drugs for leader Kim Jong Il and top officials through its foreign missions in Europe. The North’s first case of the H1N1 flu was confirmed in early May, sources close to the communist country said. A North Korean official returning from Latin America was confirmed to have contracted the virus, but the North hid this and quarantined him. Pyongyang has since enhanced quarantine measures at all entry points but failed to curb the spread of the flu. Schools in North Korea also began winter vacation a month ahead of schedule, but reported deaths from the flu. Voice of America said the World Health Organization is trying to find out if the H1N1 virus has affected North Korea. Pyongyang is encouraging its people to take precautions against the flu but most North Koreans are unaware of the symptoms, sources said. Though patients with suspicious symptoms have appeared, clinics with outdated medical technology are unable to determine whether it is type A flu. A North Korean defector who was a doctor in the North said, “A flu virus raged in August but nobody knew if it was H1N1,” adding, “Though quarantine orders were issued, medical facilities had no means of taking action. There was also no knowing whether a patient died of the H1N1 flu.” http://english.donga.com/srv/service...=2009120965118

[Kassy]

North Korea accepts swine flu aid from South

North Korea has accepted an offer of medical aid from South Korea to combat an outbreak of swine flu, officials in Seoul said.

South Korea will send Tamiflu and other medicines, a spokesman for South Korea's Unification Ministry said.

Pyongyang said on Wednesday that nine people had the H1N1 virus, confirming earlier reports of an outbreak.

The aid would be the first from South Korea's government since President Lee Myung-bak took office in early 2008.

He has taken a tougher line with the North than previous governments and suspended most government aid when cross-border relations worsened last year.

Unconfirmed deaths

Earlier this week, President Lee offered unconditional aid to help North Korea with the outbreak.

Unification Minister Hyun In-taek said South Korea would provide enough Tamiflu and other anti-viral medicine to treat 500,000 people.

"We are hoping for the delivery to be made as soon as possible after agreeing on the terms of the delivery with North Korea," ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said.

North Korean state media has said the nine confirmed cases of swine flu were in Sinuiju, on the border with China, and in the capital Pyongyang.

The World Health Organisation said no deaths due to swine flu had been recorded in North Korea.

But a South Korean organisation that sends aid to the North said 50 people had died of swine flu since early November, Associated Press news agency reported.

In South Korea, officials say 117 people have died of swine flu but the spread of the virus has slowed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8405221.stm

[Kassy]

Seoul to spend US$15m on flu aid to North Korea
Posted: 14 December 2009

SEOUL: South Korea is preparing to ship medical supplies worth more than US$15 million to help North Korea fight an outbreak of H1N1 flu, officials said Monday.

The unification ministry, which handles cross-border ties, said the shipment would include antiviral drugs for 500,000 patients - Tamiflu for 400,000 and Relenza for 100,000 - and sanitation supplies.

The aid will cost an estimated 17.8 billion won (US$15.3 million), which will be financed by a state fund for inter-Korean cooperation, it said.

Spokesman Chun Hae-Sung said Seoul would send the shipment as soon as possible, and definitely by the end of the year. But the North, which had accepted the offer, had not yet set a firm date.

North Korea Wednesday reported nine cases of (A)H1N1 in the capital Pyongyang and the city of Sinuiju bordering China. No death toll was given.

The announcement confirmed outside reports of an outbreak in the secretive and impoverished communist state.

The drugs shipment will be the first direct South Korean government aid since relations soured last year, although Seoul has funded assistance to Pyongyang through private groups.

Good Friends, a Seoul-based welfare group with cross-border contacts, quoted an unidentified Sinuiju city official as saying more than 40 people had died of the H1N1 flu in the border city alone.

Observers say the virus could pose a particular threat to the North because of malnutrition amid persistent food shortages and a lack of drugs such as Tamiflu.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...024657/1/.html

[Kassy]

H1N1 Flu Affected Apartment Complex Closed up in Hamheung

Emergency Disease Prevention Command Post of Hamheung City, South Hamgyong Province is in the process of quarantining and blocking H1N1 breakout areas including Sungchun River District. When confirmed positive of infection, quarantine measure is put in place whether it is the family of an official or a laborer. When there is a new H1N1 patient in apartment complexes, a guard stands at the entrance to stop the patient from going out. The flu broke out in densely populated residential areas including 24th and 29th units in Shinheung 1 dong, Sungchun River District, and the apartment complexes there sealed the entrances. They closed up the entrance doors of the four-story building with boards. It was intended to prohibit people inside from going out.

Locked up all of a sudden, the households inside the blocked buildings are experiencing difficulties in living, running out of basic commodities and food. Particularly those residents who made daily living by trading are severely suffering. As such, City People's Assembly ordered Local Grain Policy Enterprise to secure food and the basic food factory to provide doenjang (fermented soybean paste), ganjang (soy sauce) and at least 3 lumps of anthracite every day for cooking and heating.

Since the residents on the second and fourth floor cannot reach the ground floor, they are obtaining commodities by sending down burlap bags or buckets tied to a rope. Food and products are put on the ground floor and the residents pull the rope and unload them on the second floor. In addition, authorities specially made called '6 mansun' electricity available for the households using electric rice cooker and electric cooker.

Authorities expected that blocking outside contact would stop spreading of the flu virus but the result was different. Although the minimum amount of food is being provided, larger families still fall short of food and residents get out from the building somehow. Citing that those incidents interrupt curtailing the flu epidemic, Hamheung City authorities are concentrating on more strict control on entering and exiting the buildings by mobilizing emergency disease prevention officials, police officers and security officers. Hygiene and Disease Prevention office seems to be at a loss to observe more flu infection occurring than expected despite the quarantine of whole apartment complexes. The most suffered are the residents quarantined without due dates. Residents deplores, "I have already been suffering because of the government measure (currency revaluation), and now we are stranded because of the infectious disease. What a terrible life!"

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/...ID/MYAI-8227D2

[Kassy]

SKorea sends 2nd batch of swine flu aid to NKorea

SEOUL, South Korea

South Korean trucks have crossed the border into North Korea to deliver a second batch of swine flu aid.

Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo says South Korea sent 52,840 gallons (200,000 liters) of hand sanitizers to North Korea on Tuesday.

South Korea sent enough doses of the antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza for 500,000 North Koreans in December in its first direct humanitarian aid to the communist country in nearly two years. North and South Korea have remained in a state of war since 1953.

North Korea acknowledged in December that swine flu had broken out in the country though hasn't mentioned any virus-related deaths.

Tamiflu is made by Switzerland's Roche Group. Relenza is a procuct of GlaxoSmithKline.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/finan.../D9E1VIP00.htm