theSun | FRIDAY MAY 29 2009
news without borders
Flu suspects quarantined
PUTRAJAYA: Seven people remain
under home quarantine for moni-
toring over Influenza A (H1N1) and
are to be declared free of the
disease on Sunday if they do not
show any symptoms by then.
Director-General of Health Tan
Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said
yesterday two of them had come
into contact with a confirmed
case in Taiwan last Sunday while
the other five had come into
contact with a case in Singapore
last Tuesday.
Mohd Ismail said 10 cases were
admitted to the isolation ward in
seven hospitals nationwide on
Wednesday, and all of them had
been confirmed negative.
He said the number of cases
had risen to 296, with 294 declared
free of the disease. Two were
confirmed positive as reported on
May 15 and 16.
Mohd Ismail said the World
Health Organisation (WHO) had re-
Dept gets custody
of abused boy
PETALING JAYA: The
Children’s Court granted interim
custody for a month to the
Welfare Department to take care
of a five-year-old boy who was
allegedly abused by his 36-year-
old mother.
Magistrate Nur Syafawati
Arifin granted the order after two
officers from the department, who
are acting as the boy’s protectors,
made an application yesterday.
The boy and his mother, a
piano teacher, were present in
court for the hearing, which was
closed to the media.
Woman, Family and Commu-
nity Development Minister Datuk
Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, who
was in court to meet the boy’s
mother, told reporters the court
had allowed the woman to visit
her son during the one-month
custody period without imposing
any condition.
“She was still in shock that
her son had been taken away.
It breaks my heart to hear the
mother say she loves her son
very much.
“I can also see that the son
loves his mother,” she said.
Shahrizat said the woman
was a single mother after her
divorce several years ago. The
boy is the only child from that
marriage.
briefs
‘Millions in Australia
will catch A(H1N1)’
MELBOURNE: Between 10 and 20%
of the Australian population of about
24 million could catch A(H1N1)
flu before a vaccine is available, a
health expert says.
There are now more than
64 confirmed A(H1N1) flu cases
across Australia and Federal Health
Minister Nicola Roxon has warned
Australians to brace themselves for
more, Bernama reports.
But the Australian government
is urging people not to panic about
the rapidly increasing number of
confirmed cases, ABC News said,
7
ported that three more countries
– Bahrain, Romania and Singapore
– were the latest to have the
influenza cases, raising to 50 the
number of countries affected so
far.
He said so far 1,237 new cases
had been reported worldwide,
raising to 14,671 the number of
cases confirmed through labora-
tory tests.
The total number of deaths
remained at 96, he added.
On the Influenza A/H3 cases at
the Mara Junior Science College in
Kuantan, Pahang, Mohd Ismail said
of the 77 cases yesterday, 52 had
been removed from observation
while 25 were still under observa-
tion.
He said no new cases were
detected.
“Laboratory tests confirmed
that the cause of the incident
was the spread of the seasonal
Influenza A virus.” – Bernama
She said she would meet the
boy’s father to find out what had
happened.
“This case is now being
investigated by police. We should
handle this case very carefully
to ensure the child’s interest is
protected,” she said.
A local daily reported yester-
day that the boy had been res-
cued from his home in Puchong
on Tuesday by two officers from
the welfare department and had
been admitted to the Serdang
Hospital.
Doctors who examined the
boy revealed that he had been
severely abused for some time
with fresh wounds on his mouth
and head, in addition to old injury
marks all over his body.
In Bangi, the prime minister’s
wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor
said parents who cannot control
their anger or cope with stress
must seek help or counselling.
She said the inability to control
anger or cope with pressure was
among psychological problems
that required the attention of
qualified professionals.
Refusal to seek help would
have far greater negative impli-
cations such as abuse of innocent
children, she told the media after
a attending a talk at Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Prof Raina MacIntyre of the
University of New South Wales
said it could be a matter of weeks
before Australia was dealing with an
epidemic. – AFP
Russia bans Japanese
pork imports
MOSCOW: Russia has banned
pork imports from three Japa-
nese districts due to swine flu,
the country’s animal and plant
health watchdog said.
“In light of the detection of
the (A)H1N1 virus in Japan, Ros-
selkhoznadzor is banning imports
to Russia of pork-based products
(not subjected to heat treatment
of at least 80 degrees Celsius for
at least 30 minutes) from Osaka,
Hyogo and Shiga,” the federal
service said in a statement on
Tuesday. – AFP