MANILA, 9 July 2009, 1600 hrs - As its case numbers approached the 7000 mark, Australia announced AU$7 million (US$5.45 million) in funding for research projects to learn more about Pandemic H1N1 2009 and to help produce better responses to future outbreaks.
Health authorities in Australia, which has the highest number of cases in the Western Pacific Region, said the funding would be provided for 41 projects to help national authorities tailor their responses to the virus. The research to be supported will examine, among other topics, why some people develop more severe symptoms than others, containment strategies for indigenous communities, and improved detection methods.
The emphasis will be on fast results, and accordingly the peer-review process has been shortened to less than one week due to the rapid involvement of researchers from countries including Australia, Singapore, New Zealand and the United States of America.
The announcement came as the Western Pacific Region continued to grapple with the virus and with the increased demand for health services and hospital beds. In Australia, 59 people have been hospitalized, 37 of them in intensive care units. More than 700 people have been hospitalized since the virus took hold in Australia.
In New Zealand, where cases climbed by 159 from the previous reporting period, weekly consultation rates for all influenza-like illness continue to rise and are already well above peaks seen during the past two winters, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
The Ministry said that between 2003 and 2006 in New Zealand, an average of 1000 people a month were admitted to hospital during winter with seasonal influenza and complications. Each winter around 400 people died from such complications. On 9 July, health authorities announced that Pandemic H1N1 had contributed to the deaths of two men with pre-existing health conditions, taking the number of virus-related deaths in New Zealand to five.
Case numbers climbed in Fiji, which reported 17 new infections detected over a 10-day period to 3 July. Fiji's Ministry of Health has urged Fijian travelers with influenza symptoms to self-quarantine in a hotel if abroad and at home if back in Fiji, and to avoid contact with others for one week.
Japan reported an additional 148 cases to take its total to beyond 2000. Infections have been reported in 45 of Japan's 47 prefectures, and 55% of Japan's cases are male. New cases were also identified in Hong Kong (China), Macao (China), and Cambodia.
The total number of laboratory confirmed cases in the Western Pacific Region stood at 16 174, as of 9 July, with 20 deaths (in brackets besides the case numbers below) linked to the virus. A number of countries are now into a mitigation phase of their response to the disease and are no longer testing all suspected cases. Some countries are not reporting on a daily basis.
- Australia 6767 (13)
- Brunei Darussalam 164 (1)
- Cambodia 8
- China 1097
- Hong Kong (China) 1055
- Macao (China) 68
- Taiwan (China) 61
- Cook Islands 1
- Fiji 19
- Japan 2026
- Lao PDR 5
- Malaysia 112
- New Zealand 1431 (5)
- Palau 1
- Papua New Guinea 1
- Philippines 1709 (1)
- Republic of Korea 286
- Samoa 1
- Singapore 1111
- Vanuatu 3
- Viet Nam 248
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