TUCP bats for aggressive measures to stop flu spread

CEBU CITY: The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), the country’s largest labor group, urged the government and the private sector to implement more aggressive strategies to contain the spread of the Influenza A(H1N1) virus, warning that it could soon invade the country’s factories and diminish labor productivity.

TUCP Secretary-General Ernesto Herrera cited the case of the House Representatives, which was forced to temporarily shut down after one of its employees, a 49-year-old woman, became the country’s first Influenza A(H1N1) fatality.

“If the Batasan Pambansa complex, with some 4,000 congressional staff members, were a manufacturing facility forced to close down for a week, one can just imagine the potential drag on labor and overall economic output,” said Herrera, former chairman of the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources development.

According to a World Health Organization (WHO) update released on Wednesday, the Philippines now ranked 12th worldwide in terms of “laboratory-confirmed cases” of Influenza A(H1N1), with a total of 445 confirmed cases, including one death.

Because of reporting delays, the 445 local cases posted by the WHO in its latest update actually lagged by 159 since there were already 604 confirmed cases listed by the Department of Health as of Wednesday.

Based on the WHO update, the 11 other countries with the greatest number of Influenza A(H1N1) cases are the United States (21,449 cases, 87 deaths); Mexico (7,847 cases, 115 deaths); Canada (6,457 cases, 15 deaths); Chile (4,315 cases, four deaths); the United Kingdom (2,905 cases, one death); Australia (2,857 cases, two deaths); Argentina (1,213 cases, seven deaths); China (906 cases, zero death); Japan (893 cases, zero death); Thailand (774 cases, zero death); and Spain (593 cases, zero death).

Completing the top 15 are New Zealand (386 cases, zero death); Israel (375 cases, zero death); and Brazil (334 cases, zero death).