Four ministries draft emergency plan to prepare for H7N9 bird-flu threat
Four ministries will propose to the Cabinet an urgent plan of action to prepare for a possible pandemic of the deadly bird flu H7N9, as well as other emerging diseases.
The four ministries – Public Health, Natural Resources and Environment, Agriculture and Cooperatives, and Interior – are drafting an emergency-preparedness plan to combat a possible pandemic of the influenza virus H7N9, which has killed 22 people and infected 108 others in China.
The plan will be submitted to Cabinet and a meeting of a national committee to prevent and handle the new emerging disease, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasob Suraswadi, according to Disease Control Department director-general Dr Pornthep Siriwanarangson.
The urgent action to prevent spread of the outbreak and compensation for poultry farmers will be included under this plan, as well as the establishment of a subcommittee to oversee measures to control any pandemic, he added.
The Nation
