Swine Flu Confirmed in Astana (round-up of news)
Kazakhstan, Photoblog5 Comments
A park ride attendant in Astana wears a face mask. Photo by Chris Merriman.
Bus driver in Astana with face mask pulled down around his chin. Photo by Chris Merriman.
Reuters India reports that there are now six cases of Swine Flu in Astana (ENG):
Kazakhstan on Thursday reported its first H1N1 flu cases, saying three students had been diagnosed with the virus after returning from the British capital.
“Three people have been confirmed to have it (H1N1),” Vitaly Sheyanov, a senior healthcare official, told Reuters.
Natalya Buyenko, an advisor to the Central Asian state’s healthcare minister, said the students felt unwell after returning from London where they studied.
According to the news agency Trend Capital, all the diagnoses are of children the ages of 12-15 years who were in the United Kingdom during the period June 18 – July 19 for acadmic study (ENG); the news agency Kazakhstan Today concurs (ENG).
Chris Merriman, an expat who is living in Astana with his family, wrote the following account on his personal blog (ENG):
[...] I noticed that bus drivers and conductors were wearing face masks. One driver was indeed wearing the mask, just not actually using it – the mask was done up behind the head, but hanging below his chin!
I’ll leave the discussion on whether face masks are actually much use except when worn by people who may have already been infected, or in societies where (some) people spit in the street and regularly cough and sneeze without covering their mouth, for another day.
[...] So, am I worried, about to go and buy a dozen boxes of face masks? [Given] that Britain currently has approximately 100,000 new cases declared each week, and that the current variant of Swine Flu hasn’t yet mutated to be highly deadly and/or drug resistant, I’m not about to seal all the windows and doors and demand temperature readings from anyone we come into contact with.
[...] OK, just been for a walk in Astana park. Out of a sample size of approximately 200 people, five were found to be wearing masks. That is if you include another bus driver who had it on, but slung under his chin.
More bulletins can be found via Google News (ENG).
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Sorry about the low quality of the pictures, especially the bus driver – I didn’t want to be too obvious in snapping away, and the bus one was taken whilst walking on the pavement, at a moving bus, between trees :)
As we’ve just had a baby daughter, I suspect I’m going to be a lot more cautious of going to crowded public places that I’d have been in the past, and ready to take a (verbal) swipe at the next person I see hacking and spitting in the street, or sneezing without covering their mouths.
I’m sure other (more mainstream than the ones I listed) online newspapers will write stories on this soon, but they were all I could find at the time.
I hope to finally publish some (semi) interesting photos from around Astana Day soon, whats the drill – hope someone from here notices, or drop you a line again to see if the photos are of interest?
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Schwartz Reply:
July 24th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
@Chris Merriman, just shoot me an e-mail: schwartz [at] neweurasia [dot] net. Adil’s on vacation for the next week. Looking forward to more pics! And also let us know if there’s anything else you would like to cross-post with us on this subject or others.
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My brother got infected with H1N1 or Swine Flu in Mexico. He got a mild fever and luckily he did not die.
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We should be thankful that the swine flu did not spread very rapidly. it is not very deadly like Ebola but swine flu can still kill you.
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The government ordered ppl who work outside to wear these masks,ppl were required to do so,and nobody mind cuz it’s for our lives.Even my dad dd not allow me to go outside and im thankful to him now,cuz at that time i was angry.))))
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