BBC Thai PM in bird flu 'cover-up'

[Guest guest]

>

>BBC DAILY E-MAIL: UK EDITION

>Sunday, 25 January, 2004, 09:00 GMT 01:00 US/Pacific

>

>

> * Thai PM admits bird flu secrecy *

>Thaksin Shinawatra says his government

>suspected it was facing an outbreak of avian flu

>about two weeks ago.

>Full story:

>http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3427249.stm

>

Thai PM in bird flu 'cover-up'

Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has

admitted that his government suspected an

outbreak of avian flu about two weeks ago.

 

Mr Thaksin told reporters he had decided not to

tell the public until Friday to avoid causing

mass panic.

 

He has ordered troops to help a cull of chickens to stop the disease spreading.

 

Bird flu has spread to two more regions of

Thailand while Indonesia revealed it too had an

outbreak, though officials there said it had not

spread to humans.

 

Amid growing criticism of its handling of the

disease, Thailand has invited other Asian nations

hit by the crisis to an emergency summit this

week.

 

European Union and Japanese officials will also

be invited to the meeting in Bangkok on

Wednesday, as well as the World Health

Organization (WHO) and UN food agency.

 

After weeks of speculation, Thailand - Asia's

largest poultry exporter - admitted the presence

of the disease two days ago and confirmed that it

had spread from poultry to humans.

 

Several countries subsequently banned imports of

poultry from Thailand, including its main

customers, Japan and the EU.

 

On Sunday, China announced it was banning chicken

imports from Thailand and Cambodia, which has

also been hit by a bird flu outbreak.

 

Two Thai boys are infected, while the death of a

56-year-old Bangkok man who raised fighting cocks

is thought to have been caused by the virus.

 

On Sunday, the Thai prime minister visited the

worst-hit province of Suphan Buri, where

officials are moving from farm to farm destroying

all poultry.

 

Mr Thaksin told reporters the government had

taken precautionary measures, despite keeping

quiet about its concerns.

 

" We have suspected this for about a couple of weeks " he said.

 

Government under fire

 

The BBC's Rachel Harvey in Bangkok says that

politically as well as economically, everything

now depends on how quickly the virus can be

brought under control.

 

She says ordinary Thais are questioning whether

the government is telling them everything, even

now.

 

The government has come in for strong criticism

from the media, while opposition politicians are

threatening a motion of no confidence.

 

Deputy leader of the opposition Democrat party,

Abhisit Vejjajiva, said it would be

" unacceptable " if the government had misled the

public.

 

" We understand that... no government would want

the public to panic, but I think the problem was

the route that the government took meant that

people who were at risk, who have direct contact

[with chickens], did not take the necessary

precautions, " he said.

 

" Now we have a few people who are infected, some of whom are already dead. "

 

The worst-hit country in the region is Vietnam,

where six people have died of avian flu.

 

The WHO has warned that the Asian outbreak could

mutate and become more dangerous.

 

Avian flu has also affected chickens in Cambodia,

Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea - but

is not known to have jumped from birds to humans

in these countries.

 

 

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3427249.stm

 

Published: 2004/01/25 15:26:57 GMT

 

© BBC MMIV

 

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