RI imposes tighter measures for sick travelers from China and Taiwan to anticipate H7N9

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | National | Mon, May 13 2013, 7:08 PM

The Health Ministry’s director general of disease control and environmental health, Tjandra Yoga Aditama, said that all Port Health Offices had imposed tighter emergency response measures following the increased number of H7N9 infections identified in areas of China and Taiwan.

“I have communicated with colleagues from the Transportation Ministry to require any aircrafts and ships departing from China and Taiwan to immediately report to the control tower of the destination airport and sea port if there are any passengers or crew who are sick; so, the KKP officials can take appropriate measures [to prevent the H7N9 from spreading in the country],” he said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post, on Monday.

Through state airport operator PT Angkasa Pura and state seaport operator PT Pelindo, he said, the Health Ministry urged all airport and seaport operators in areas across the country to take medical and emergency precautions.

The H7N9 infections have continued to widespread, particularly in China and Taiwan.

As of May, there are 131 cases of H7N9 infections with 32 deaths globally.

Tjandra said that the Health Ministry was in continuous communication with the World Health Organization (WHO) on the recent developments of the H7N9 infections as well as the novel Corona Virus (nCoV) which has been spreading to France.

As of May 10, the WHO has received 33 confirmed nCoV cases in humans in France, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

Twenty three or 79.3 percent of total nCoV-infected patients are male aged between 24 and 94-years-old while the number of the fatal cases has reached 18. (ebf)