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"The best way for commuters to minimise the risk in this case is to wash their hands regularly," former public health minister Mongkhol na Songkhla said yesterday.

He was speaking during a cam¬paign in which 20,000 bottles of handwashing gel were distributed for all 3,514 city buses.

All 16,676 employees of the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority, which operates the buses, have also been educated about the disease and preventive measures.

Thawatchai Thassanathaen, a sen¬ior BMTA official, said the agency had not received the Bt12 million it requested from the Public Health Ministry to carry out the campaign promoting preventive measures.

"Although the gel is helpful, it will be used up shortly," he said.

Public Health Ministry spokesman Suphan Srithamma urged pranksters to stop phoning the ministry and the 1422 hotline, after 13 per cent of the inquiries made after the service began late last month were crank calls. Most pranksters are children while some adults flirt with the women phoneadvisers.

Deputy Public Health Minister Manit Nopamornbodi said the fatality rate this week would drop to 12 from 16 last week, bringing the total death count to 109 from 97 last week.

The latest tally will be released at the weekly press conference tomorrow.