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Bird Flu News---April 5, 2006

Singapore plans two-day drill, guidebooks to prepare for bird flu pandemic

SINGAPORE (AFP) - Singapore will hold a two-day drill in July to test the city-state's readiness to cope with a bird flu pandemic, officials have said.

The drill will involve a hospital, clinics and doctors where the aim is to test out infection control measures, temperature screening procedures and simulated treatment of probable cases of bird flu.

Plans are also under way to mail more than one million copies of a handbook guide on bird flu to households by the end of the month. The handbook details the symptoms of the disease and precautionary measures to take, among other things.

Singapore has so far been spared from the bird flu outbreak that has hit other Southeast Asian countries including Vietnam and Indonesia.

But the city-state, whose economy is heavily dependent on trade and commerce, is not taking any chances.

"Bird flu poses a serious threat to life and our well being," Minister for Information, Communications and The Arts, Lee Boon Yang, told a media conference during the launch of the handbook.

"Singapore may not be spared from such a pandemic. Hence, the government is adopting an integrated national effort involving all government agencies."

A high-level ministerial committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng is overseeing contingency plans being developed to maintain essential services should a pandemic breaks out here.

Among the measures, the health ministry has also stockpiled 680,000 doses of Tamiflu, which is considered the frontline drug against a potential pandemic.

It aims to raise the figure to 1.05 million doses by the end of the year for the population of four million.

Schools will also be shut down if a pandemic breaks out and classes will be held online or through free-to-air broadcast services, the government said.

There are widespread fears that the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which has struck poultry and wild birds in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe, could eventually kick off a human flu pandemic.

The virus has killed or led to the slaughter of tens of millions of birds. It has so far had a relatively limited impact on humans, who can catch it through contact with sick birds.

The virus has killed more than 100 people since 2003, mostly in Asia.