Summary: No significant change from yesterday. Cases in New York now up to 40, cases in Mexico passed 1600 with 149 deaths.
- Mexico has greater than 1600 cases and 149 suspected deaths
- United States has approximately 60 cases with no reported deaths
- Canada has six cases
- New Zealand has ten cases from travelers recently in Mexico
- Spain has one case from a traveler who was recently in Mexico
- United Kingdom (Scotland) has two cases
2) Current Travel Recommendations / Restrictions:
WHO: is not recommending any travel or trade restrictions
CDC: recommends that American citizens avoid all nonessential travel to Mexico at this time..
US Department Of State: United States has imposed no additional constraints or limitations on travel between the United States and Mexico. Travelers are encouraged to comply with suggestions by Mexican public health officials and to be alert to good health and sanitation practices.
3) Travel Industry Update: U.S. airlines are waiving fees for passengers with tickets to Mexico who want to change their reservations because of the swine flu outbreak there. The relaxed penalties affect passengers who have already bought tickets to or through Mexico, and who want to reroute or reschedule travel. Change fees typically run from $100 to $125 for domestic flights, higher for international flights. Delta Air Lines is waiving the $250 change fee for international flights through May 4. A Delta spokesman Monday said no cancellations on flights to Mexico have been reported and operations are continuing normally.
American Airlines and Continental Airlines are allowing passengers to change their plans without penalty through May 6. United Airlines is waiving fees through Thursday for passengers to Mexico City. Passengers on Mexican carrier Aeromex ico can also change their plans without charge until Thursday. US Air also is waiving its standard fee for a reservation change.
4) Other Developments: Health experts held an emergency meeting at the Geneva-based WHO today to discuss the epidemiological evidence, as well as on how to prepare a vaccine based on the strains that have been examined. Given the long duration in production of a vaccine to attack the new strain, health experts believe it would be several months before a new vaccine is produced to combat the influenza.
Hong Kong and Taiwan said visitors who came back from flu-affected areas with fevers would be quarantined. China said anyone experiencing flu-like symptoms within two weeks of arrival from an affected area had to report to authorities. A Russian health agency said any passenger from North America running a fever would be quarantined until the cause of the fever is determined.
Hong Kong and South Korea warned against travel to the Mexican capital and three affected provinces. Italy, Poland and Venezuela also advised their citizens to postpone travel to affected areas of Mexico and the United States.
5) Looking Ahead: Raising the pandemic alert phase could entail issuing specific recommendations to countries on how to halt the disease. So far, WHO has only urged governments to step up their surveillance of suspicious outbreaks. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan called the outbreak a public health emergency of “pandemic potential” because the virus can pass from human to human.
**No vaccine specifically protects against swine flu, and it is unclear how much protection current human flu vaccines might offer.
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