Only 40 H1N1 cases in Lanka

But WHO official calls for vigilance:

Novel Influenza (A)H1N1 has not spread within the community in Sri Lanka while no deaths have also been reported. In Thailand, it has begun to spread within the community while Thailand records the highest number of affected cases in Asia which is over 4,000 and 26 deaths, WHO Representative to Sri Lanka, Dr. Firdos Rustom Mehta said.

Addressing a press briefing in Colombo yesterday, Dr. Mehta said Sri Lanka had detected 40 Novel Influenza (A)H1N1 cases so far but non are from the community. But still Sri Lanka needs to be vigilant," he added.

All Novel Influenza (A) H1N1 victims had come from abroad and the majority (28) were from Australia. Five cases detected were from UK and another four had come from the US. Two patients had come from Hong Kong and one from Saudi Arabia, he said.

The monitoring and detecting system is successfully going on at the Bandaranaike International Airport while 40 PHIs work there on a shift basis. Required drugs, medical equipment etc are freely available in Sri Lanka to treat the disease. Eleven more hospitals have been prepared to treat patients if required.