China Bird Flu: Taiwan Includes Hunan Province in Alert List for Travelers to China
Hunan Province has been included in Taiwan's alert list for travelers bound for China, with the total number of areas now reaching 10. Taiwan first issued the travel health advisory Thursday last week, April 25.
A Level-2 advisory prompts travelers to be more cautious of their surroundings and take extra hygienic precautions, moreso in high-risk places. The earlier list included the provinces of Jiangsu, Henan, Zhejiang, Anhui, Shandong, Fujian and Jiangxi, as well as the metropolitan areas of Shanghai and Beijing.
On Sunday, five more infected cases brought by the new avian influenza A H7N9 virus were confirmed in the provinces of Zhejiang, Shandong, Jiangxi and Fujian.
Xu Jianguo, a researcher with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, dispelled fears the current health scare gripping the country could turn into an uncontrollable outbreak.
However, he urged constant monitoring as well as efforts to control sources of infection must be intensified since it is still uncertain when the epidemic will abate.
"The biggest technical obstacle for prevention is that we don't know where the virus-carrying birds are or where they will go," Mr Xu was quoted by People's Daily.
Mr Xu noted the seasonal changes does not have anything to do with the H7N9 virus human infections.
"Countermeasures have been effective so far, but the situation is still developing as new cases turn up," Premier Li Keqiang said over the weekend during a visit to the Chinese Center for Disease Control in Beijing.