How is it affecting travel?
As of today, swine flu has caused 152 deaths in Mexico and 1,600 people are infected with the respiratory illness in 19 of the 32 Mexican states. In the U.S., 64 cases have been confirmed in New York, Ohio, Kansas, Texas, and California. Two cases have been reported in the province of Valencia, Spain, and one in Israel. Japanese immigration officials aren't granting entry visas to travelers arriving from Mexico and they're quarantining anyone arriving from the U.S. and Canada. The WHO has classified this as a Level 4 pandemic but has not recommended any official travel bans or the shutting of specific borders.
Additionally, many Asian countries are taking a hard line on the outbreak: Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore are using thermal scanners to check passengers arriving from North America for fever. China is requiring anyone experiencing flu-like symptoms within two weeks of arrival to report to the authorities. Russia says passengers arriving from North America who are running a fever can be quarantined until the cause is determined.
The British Foreign Office, the EU, and the U.S. State Department have urged travelers to avoid nonessential travel to Mexico at this point. But what if you have a trip planned to Mexico this week or in the near future? Should you go? Can you cancel? An MSNBC poll asked travelers if the outbreak changed their travel plans to Mexico; 37.9 percent say it hasn't, 27.1 say they'll still head to Mexico but avoid Mexico City, and 34.9 percent believe it's too early to make a decision.
Traveler contributor Chris Elliott says that the cancellation policies of airlines and hotels in response to this outbreak are all over the map right now. Many airlines, in fact, are waiving their usual penalties for reservation changes. Travelocity, for example, has waived change fees for travel to and from Mexico in coming weeks and links to airlines' policies on its site.
If you must travel to Mexico right now, stay updated with the Centers for Disease Control and the Mexican Ministry of Health. Before leaving the U.S., be sure your vaccinations are up-to-date (though there is no vaccine for the swine flu; good health in general is a good idea when entering an area in which an outbreak has surfaced), take along a handy health kit, locate local health resources, and be aware that the U.S. embassy cannot administer medicine to you if you become sick in Mexico. In the meantime, as we wait to see how this outbreak develops, let's take a step back, stay informed, wash our hands, and stay calm.
http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/intelligenttravel/2009/04/swine-flus-affect-on-travel.html For more information
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Could Swine Flu affect the aviation industry?
Quarantine officers monitor arrivals with a thermographic device at Bangkok's main international airport.
The world has been taken by storm with Swine Flu, with cases growing by the day its turning from an epedemic into a pandemic. Could this affect international transport by air and air travel?As Swine flu continued to take lives in Mexico and other parts of the world, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said it has greatly affected the aviation industry and its timing could not have been worse.
Fears of a swine flu epidemic have set travel and airline shares crashing. Among the worst hit were British Airways (falling over 12 percent at one point) and TUI Travel (down over 7 percent) as investors worry over the potential impact on tourism and travel.
Will swine influenza affect the aviation sector?
U.S. airlines are scrambling to calm jittery passengers and investors and to address growing concerns about the safety of air travel as swine flu spreads outside of Mexico.
Travel to Mexico typically tails off this time of year -- a factor that may help to limit the number of infected passengers who board planes for the U.S., where relatively few cases and no deaths have been reported.
But for carriers like Chicago's United Airlines the bigger worry is that people will become fearful of flying within the U.S. or overseas if the number of cases reported within the U.S. rises rapidly.
The worst-case scenario? Airlines could see a sharp plunge in travel similar to early 2003, when the SARS epidemic spread through China and Southeast Asia, warned Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.
http://flyawaysimulation.com/article3400.html For more information
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How countries are trying to prevent swine flu outbreak
As the number of suspected and confirmed swine flu cases continued to rise around the world, health officials announced new measures to contain the outbreak.
So far, the World Health Organization says at least 104 cases have been confirmed worldwide, including 64 in the United States; 26 in Mexico; six in Canada; three in New Zealand; two each in Spain, the United Kingdom and Israel.With at least 11 other countries suspecting infections, the World Health Organization has raised its alert level from three to four on its six-level scale.The following is sample of what some countries are doing to combat the virus:
CANADA
Cases: Six mild cases
Measures: Issued a travel health notice, saying its public health agency was "tracking clusters of severe respiratory illness with deaths in Mexico."
CHINA
Cases: None
Measures: Banned pork imports from Mexico, and from California, Kansas and Texas in the
United States.
INDIA
Measures: Indian health officials advised citizens to postpone their non-essential travel to the swine flu-hit regions.
ISRAEL
Cases: Two (a third is suspected)
Israel's Health Ministry confirmed a second case of swine flu Tuesday. The man is in good condition, according to a spokeswoman at Meir Hospital. The first patient, who tested positive after a visit to Mexico, was recovering, and his 5-year-old niece was suspected of having the disease, said a spokeswoman at Laniado Hospital in Netanya. She is undergoing testing and treatment.
Measures: The Health Ministry has not issued special instructions to the public, nor adopted measures for monitoring those returning from Mexico.
The country is calling the outbreak "Mexico flu" so that citizens do not have to pronounce the name of an animal considered impure in Judaism and Islam.
JAPAN
Cases: None
Measures: The foreign ministry suspended visa waivers for visitors from Mexico. Airport officials are checking passengers before they disembark.
MEXICO
Cases: 159 deaths are thought to have been caused by swine flu, according to Jose Angel Cordova, Mexico's secretary of health.
So far, however, only 26 cases -- 19 infections and seven deaths -- have been confirmed by laboratory tests in Mexico and reported to the World Health Organization.
Measures: Mexico City has closed its schools and universities until further notice. It has also ordered restaurants only to serve takeaway meals, so customers do not congregate. In addition, bars, clubs, movie theaters, pool halls, gyms, sport centers and convention halls have been told to close until May 5. Troops passed out 4 million filter masks in the city of 20 million residents. Officials are considering shutting down the bus and subway systems. Citizens are asked to avoid large crowds, refrain from kissing, and stay at least six feet from one another. The World Bank is offering $205 million to deal with the outbreak.
NEW ZEALAND
Cases: 11
Nine students, a teacher and another person who returned to New Zealand from Mexico over the weekend have confirmed cases of swine flu. Health officials said their symptoms are mild, and they are responding well to treatment. The students and teacher were part of a group from Auckland's Rangitoto College who spent three weeks in Mexico.
Measures: New Zealanders who traveled to Mexico or North America in the past two weeks are asked to get in touch with health officials if they have flu-like symptoms.
THAILAND
Cases: None.
Measures: Airport officials are keeping a closer eye on passengers arriving from Mexico.
The health ministry is calling the virus "the flu that has caused an outbreak in Mexico," so that the public does not confuse "swine flu" with "bird flu." The ministry also said it did not want to hurt the pork industry.
UNITED KINGDOM
Cases: Two confirmed, in Scotland. The patients are recovering.
Measures: The Foreign Office advised against all but essential travel to Mexico.
UNITED STATES
Cases: 64 confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC has confirmed 10 cases in California, six in Texas, two in Kansas, one in Ohio and 45 in New York. Health officials in California, Indiana and Texas reported others Tuesday that the CDC had not yet added to its list.
Measures: The government declared a public health emergency to free up federal, state and local agencies and their resources, should the need arise. The government urged travelers to avoid non-essential travel to Mexico. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued emergency authorization for the use of two of the most common anti-viral drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza. The authorization allows the distribution of the drugs by a broader range of health care workers and loosens age limits for their use.
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/27/swine.flu.preparations/
For more information
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My reaction:
- The swine flu virus has caused all countries to issue travel advisory to people entering
- This situation slows down the interrelationship of countries. For example,
- Airport and airlines should figure this problem by seriously control the flight from the risky country of H1N1 virus and make sure that everyone from each flight passed thermographic scan check to ensure no diffusion of swine flu virus. It will increase the reliability to both your own country and foreigner.
- Every country should have their own policy to encourage the economic flow and tourism. Because this situation really impact on world’s economic. If each country has own solution, economic could be better than this.
- Government tried to inform people not to be frightened about this flu, educated accurate information about swine flu to residents because some travelers are trying to buy the anti-influenza medicine to protect them from swine flu without a medical prescription which is very dangerous and it can cause side-effects.
- Government asked Thais to avoid travelling to countries that have a potential to be infected and to strictly follow advice from those destination countries if they really must go there.
My conclusion
Due to the swine flu epidemic, people all over the world are now panic with this swine flu virus.
It originated from
It is now become a public health emergency of international concern. It affects people’s health, country’s economic and tourism slow down.
Everyone should do their best for their job such as cover your mouth when coughing and sneezing, stay home when you sick and of course wash your hands on a regular basis.
