Taipei - The World Health Organization (WHO) is allowing Taiwan to attend its annual assembly as an observer, marking progress in Taipei's fight to end its international isolation, a Taiwan official said Wednesday. Health Minister Yeh Chin-chuan told parliament that the WHO has invited Taiwan to attend the World Health Assembly (WHA), which is to open May 18 in Geneva, as an observer.
The invitation was issued by WHO Secretary General Margaret Chan Tuesday, apparently because of improved ties between Taiwan and China.
Phnom Penh - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday called on South-East Asian leaders to hold an emergency meeting to agree on a regional strategy to stem the spread of swine flu. "We need to have an emergency meeting of ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) to address this deadly disease as soon as possible," he told a graduation ceremony at the National Institute of Education in Phnom Penh.
Paris - The swine flu outbreak currently spreading around the world is probably not a "cataclysm" for human health, the head of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said Wednesday. "The new virus is apparently passed on very easily from person to person. It appears to be spreading throughout the entire world. But if it does not cause serious symptoms in people, it is no cataclysm," Bernard Vallet told the German Press Agency dpa.
Manila - Asia-Pacific transport ministers on Wednesday called for immediate steps to contain the spread of a deadly swine flu virus outbreak, but they did not call for a travel ban in the countries affected by the disease. At the end of the 6th Asia-Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) Transportation Ministerial Meeting in Manila, the ministers expressed concern over the spread of the swine flu virus, which now affects seven countries, according to the World Health Organization.
Kiev - Health officials in Ukraine on Wednesday temporarily quarantined an airliner carrying more than 180 people amid fears that that at least one of the passengers was infected with swine flu, Channel 5 television reported. A US national aboard the plane arriving from New York had complained of a headache while en route to Kiev, prompting the decision by health authorities to prevent those onboard from disembarking.
Brussels - Representatives of the European pharmaceutical industry were set to arrive in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss their response to a feared swine-flu pandemic with the European Union's top health policy-maker. EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou invited them to the EU's capital to ask about the current availability of flu vaccines and their capacity to produce and distribute more supplies if necessary, Vassiliou's spokeswoman, Nina Papadoulaki, told journalists in the city.
