Bangkok to host emergency talk of Asean health ministers on flu pandemic

The meeting will be held from May 7 to 8, she said.

Asean is comprising Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Thailand is this year's rotating chairman of the grouping.

Earlier Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the upcoming meeting of Asean health ministers will be an opportunity to demonstrate to the international community that the regional grouping is united on this the issue of the Mexican influenza.

Mexico has hard hit with the influenza with a record of eight death.

Meanwhile Surin Pitsuwan, secretary general of Asean, said, "At the Asean Secretariat, we are better prepared this time because we have put in place the Health One Project, drawing experiences from Sars and bird flu a few years back.

"We are better placed than many other regions both in terms of experience and medical preparedness," Surin said.

Surin said Asean is monitoring the situation very closely and all mechanisms of emergency response are activated.

"We are confident that the Asean region will pull our resources and expertise together for this health threat. We will be vigilant, but we should not be alarmed," Surin said.

In Bangkok, Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra said authorities will start handing out 100,000 free face masks to taxi drivers and foreign tourists in the capital.

 To date there have no confirmed cases of swine flu, also called Mexican Human Flu or swine influenza A/H1N1, detected in Thailand or any other Asian country.

Nonetheless, the Thai government has been quick to put in place measures to hinder the possible spread of the deadly virus by foreigners visiting the country or Thais who have recently visited Mexico, where the human-borne virus originated, or the US.

Thermal scanners have been placed at the country's four main international airports in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket and Samui Island and 17 public hospitals have been put on alert to treat any people showing acute flu symptoms.