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WEDNESDAY MAY 13, 2009 7
INDIA
WHO insists swine flu outbreak could have been more severe
Singalong
NEWS IN
breaks a
Alarm defended
BRIEF
record
Offensive
More than 160,000 devotees The World Health Organ- The WHO’s death toll passed stepped up
who chanted hymns in hon- isation (WHO) has defended 50 at the weekend after Costa
our of a Hindu deity in the its decision to raise the global Rica reported its first fatality PAKISTAN: Commandos
southern Indian city of pandemic alarm for swine flu from the flu - believed to be a dropped into a key Taliban
Hyderabad have set a new as Cuba,Thailand and Finland mix of bird and human flu stronghold in the Swat
record for the world’s largest confirmed their first cases which came together in pigs - valley yesterday, stepping
choir, officials said. of the virus. and the United States con- up a punishing offensive
The vast ranks of singers The global health body’s firmed a third death. against militants that has
gathered for more than an acting Assistant Director- Thailand yesterday confir- displaced more than
hour to perform hymns General Keiji Fukuda insisted med its first two cases in 360,000 people.
penned by 15th century saint the outbreak would have been patients who had travelled to Troops opened up a new
and poet Tallapaka Annam- more severe if the WHO had Mexico, the epicentre of the front in the district’s
acharya on Sunday. not raised its pandemic alert outbreak where authorities northern mountains, the
Their mass singalong in two weeks ago. have put the death toll at 56. suspected stronghold of
Telugu, the language of “If countries had not been The WHO has only confirmed firebrand Taliban
Andhra Pradesh state, broke thinking about what to do in 48 of those deaths. commander Maulana
the previous 72-year-old this kind of situation, the fact Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Fazlullah behind a nearly
record of a 60,000-strong is we would have had much Vejjajiva said tests carried out two-year uprising that has
German choir. more confusion,” Fukuda said. by the Centres for Disease devastated the area.
Guinness World Records “In many ways, the severity Control in the US had “Today Pakistan army
confirmed the achievement. would have been greater.” confirmed the A(H1N1) virus heliborne troops have
The WHO raised its alert to in a sample from the patient. landed in the valley of
five on a scale of six two weeks Finland confirmed its first Peochar and their mission
ago, signalling that a two cases of swine flu is to conduct search and
pandemic was “imminent” yesterday while Canada destroy operations,” Major
after Mexico and the United confirmed 40 new cases, General Athar Abbas said.
States showed sustained local bringing the total number Military officials said the
transmission of the influenza across the country to 331. troop landings, around
A(H1N1) virus. Cuba had earlier reported its 65km northwest of the main
The alert prompted countries first case in a Mexican student, Swat town of Mingora, were
to take specific measures, one of a group of 14 Mexicans the first such assault during
including looking at distrib- studying in Havana who were the latest offensive to crush
ution of anti-viral drugs or tested for the disease, the the Taliban there.
issuing travel advice. health ministry said. GROWING: Three more countries have confirmed their first flu cases
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