There are 1,085 confirmed cases worldwide in 20 countries and a total
of 26 deaths. More immediately, four cases have been confirmed in Costa Rica,
two in El Salvador and three in Quintana Roo – and one of those is in
Chetumal. Those three are part of a total of 590 cases in all of Mexico. So
it’s at our front door and focal point Dr. Paul Edwards stressed that
sustained vigilance is required to keep it outside.
Dr. Paul Edwards, Focal Point – Swine Flu
“We’ve been doing well as a country. Let’s continue doing
that, let’s keep on high alert and as the situation change then we will
make those changes as is pertinent to those changes.”
Dr. Michael Pitts,
“If you do nothing, you’re likely to get cases. If you do the
right set of things, the chances of getting cases is zero. So we want to go
with that part of the equation, do something and get that reality as much as
to zero cases as possible. So it is because of action that we keep this thing
close to zero. If we stop the action then that might go from zero upwards.”
And while vigilance remains high, what if a case is confirmed? Well,
that would require another state of response altogether. Dr. Edwards gave an
example of a possible case being reported.
Dr. Paul Edwards,
“Let’s say for example a case was confirmed in let’s say
in San Pedro, and I will use the words of the DHS, we will ratchet if the response
where by we are looking at schools and closing those and follow suit with exactly
what Mexico has done because those very same measures are international measures
and then you look at other things like the churches and all the restaurants.
For example in Mexico now the restaurants are open but you can only go in to
buy the food and take it home, you no longer sit down and eat it there. Those
are the measures that we have as part of our plan.”
Again, we stress that was only an example. No cases of H1N1 have been
confirmed on San Pedro or anywhere in Belize. Interestingly of the 25 samples
gathered so far, none have been collected from the Stann Creek and Toledo Districts.
Pitts says public health workers have been directed to seek out cases of interest
in those communities.
In Corozal, the Free Zone has been closed since Friday – the
result of a discussions between zone management and health authorities in Quintana
Roo and Belize’s Ministry of Health. It is scheduled to re-open on Wednesday
but that is pending the outcome of a meeting that’s being held tomorrow
with the Ministry of Health.
And as for school, an advisory issued yesterday from the Ministry of
Education ordered that school should continue as normal until and unless a change
in conditions forces a higher degree of vigilance. The staging of the PSE proceeded
as planned today and later on in the newscast, we’ll ask the test-takers
how they found the exam.
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