Asean, Thailand prepared for swine flu

 He said Asean is prepared to issue a statement on prevention. Still, he said Asean is equipped with 500,000 doses of vaccine, which should be sufficient for the entire region.

 Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Monday the Public Health Ministry will present the information to the Cabinet tomorrow, on how each unit is prepared for the disease.

 The 10th Disease Control Office in Chiang Mai has opened the war room to tackle the disease. On Monday, there was a video conference to brainstorm on preventive measures. Masks are being prepared as the office will tackle the virus in the way that it handled Sars and bird flu.

 Yanyong Phuangrach, director-general of the Internal Trade Department, said the Commerce Ministry will work with the Agriculture Ministry to educate the public on the safety of locally-produced pork. He noted that the virus would send a psychological effect on pork prices, at the time when the prices are rising.

  "It's guaranteed that Thai pork contains no infection, due to the closed farming system," he said.

 On April 29, there will be a discussion with all parties involved in the farming industry, in the move to create a more reasonable pricing structure. Yanyong said due to higher production cost, the supply has reduced from 17.7 million pigs last year to 17.4 million. Their growth rate also slowed due to high temperature in March. This leads to the higher pork price and the Cabinet on Wednesday will be informed of the price as well as impacts from the swine flu.