Screening for deadly virus stepped up at northern border

WHO said in the statement that it will, from now on, refer to the new influenza virus as influenza A(H1N1).

Suthat Chaisri, head of the disease control checkpoint at Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district, said that thermal scanner - a device to detect suspected swine flu patients—will be installed at the Mae Sai checkpoint to screen Thais, as well as tourists who enter the kingdom via the Mae Sai checkpoint on the Burmese border.

Suthat said that leaflets about swine flu symptoms and hygiene masks will be distributed to both Thais and tourists so that they could observe the symptoms and look after themselves.

Meanwhile in the lower northern province of Phichit, local livestock officials have visited 105 pig farms to instruct farmers about hygienic swine production.

Provincial public health official Dr Prachak Wattanakul said that local health workers and health volunteers in the province's 880 villages will visit local residents, targeting workers who have just returned from overseas, to scan for possible cases of swine flu so that patients will be found in time and quarantined from other residents.

In nearby Uttaradit province, hospital director Dr Thienchai Karuehayothin admitted that the news of the swine flu outbreak in Mexico and other countries, combined with the WHO announcement raising the threat level, has frightened local people.

Dr Thienchai said that up to 500 people who have flu symptoms come to hospital daily, fearing that they will contract swine flu.

"Despite the high number of patients, it's good for the hospital as we will be able to detect possible swine flu cases easily and can control the spread of the disease in time," Dr Thienchai said.