China Allocates US$49m To Control H7N9 Avian Flu

China’s Ministry of Finance said Wednesday it has allocated 303 million yuan to control the spread of the H7N9 avian flu.

AsianScientist (Apr. 29, 2013) – China’s Ministry of Finance (MOF) said Wednesday it has allocated 303 million yuan (US$48.6 million) to control the spread of the H7N9 avian flu.

The money will be used to subsidize projects aimed at monitoring cases of H7N9 infection, influenza-like illnesses, severe acute respiratory infection, and unexplained pneumonia, the MOF said in a statement.

In another move to help contain infections, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Wednesday ordered local authorities to allow medical insurance programs to cover more medicine and services for H7N9-infected patients to reduce the financial burden on them, reported the state-run Xinhua agency.

On April 25, the first human H7N9 case in Taiwan was reported by the Taipei Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The patient, a 53-year-old man who had been working in Jiangsu province from March 28 to April 9, had returned from Jiangsu via Shanghai and became ill on April 12. The patient was laboratory confirmed with the virus on April 24.

On April 27, health officials confirmed the first human case of H7N9 bird flu in central Hunan province. A 64-year-old woman began suffering an intense fever on April 14 after close contact with poultry. None of the 41 people who had close contact with her after she contracted the virus has become sick. The woman is said to be in stable condition.

To date, the deadly bird flu has infected 109 people in Chinese mainland and Taiwan and killed 22 of them, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Contacts of the confirmed cases are being closely monitored. So far, there is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission.

A team of WHO international and Chinese experts has completed its mission to visit Shanghai and Beijing and assess the H7N9 situation, and to make recommendations to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

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