TYPE A (H1N1) FLU - Malls join battle to contain virus

Retailers launch hygiene campaign; tutorial schools ordered to close

The private sector yesterday joined the government in launching preventive measures to help contain the spread of influenza A (H1N1) as the country's death toll edged up to 14. "We've been following the outbreak closely. So far, the number of our shoppers has not been affected by the flu, but we're ready to follow the measures recommended by the Public Health Ministry," said Vanchai Chanwattanarunggul, general manager for shopping complexes at The Mall Group. Among the steps taken by the major retail chain in response to the rising number of infections were cleaning all public spaces inside shopping complexes, including handrails, elevators and trolleys, with disinfectant more often, and regularly informing customers and employees of the proper ways to avoid the disease. Vanchai also urged the government to step up its campaign to encourage people to use facemasks while avoiding overcrowded places. In the event that shopping malls are ordered to close down temporarily, there would be a chain reaction on the retail and other industries, he said. Tesco Lotus said it has also implemented a flufighting programme at all of its stores to assure customers of strict hygiene standards. "All stores, especially public areas, toilets and shopping carts, are now cleaned more frequently and toilet soap has been replaced with 100percent antiinfection products," said Gwyn Sundhagul, director and chief marketing officer. Central Retail Corp, another major retail chain, said all points of contact in public spaces and the toilets of its branches were now wiped down more often while employees were advised to adopt practices to avoid infections such as washing hands more regularly. Chaisit Kupwiwat, deputy managing director of Vibhavadi Hospital, said visitors coming to check if they have come down with the flu has increased to some 100 persons per day. Pichit Kangwolkij, director of Bangkok Hospital Pattaya, said they were also seeing more people wanting to be checked for the flu, now up to 120 persons per day. Thailand's casualties are among the highest in Asia, following the outbreak in late April, prompting the government to take a more drastic approach to controlling the situation. Starting on Monday, all students with flulike symptoms will be stopped from entering their school grounds. All tutorial schools across the country were also ordered to shut down for more than two weeks, from Monday to July 28, while Internet and gaming cafes were asked to suspend their operations during the same period. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said more than twothirds of the 2,925 confirmed A (H1N1) cases were youths aged 11-20. Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai said a circular would be issued to all government agencies to inform officials that they should take sick leave if they develop the flu. "This is an act of social responsibility. Without it, the disease may infect everyone in the country," Witthaya said. Deputy Public Health Minister Manit Nopamornbodi said that if the A (H1N1) virus was still raging in two weeks, authorities might consider cutting the academic semester short. "The school break may have to come sooner than October," he said. Concert halls, cinemas, pubs, karaoke kiosks and other entertainment venues were also a concern, as these places could also easily propagate the unusual flu, he said. "We will also launch campaigns in factories to let workers know that they should take sick leave when they feel ill," he said. The mortality rate is now at just about 0.4 and most of those who died were patients with chronic diseases.

Source: The Nation