Athletes to get flu tests at SEA Games

Athletes to get flu tests at SEA Games

Agence France-Presse, Manila

Athletes in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games hosted by the Philippines this month will be required to undergo tests for flu, the health department said Monday.

About 5,000 athletes from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Timor Leste (East Timor) are taking part in the the week-long Games to begin Nov. 27.

But there are concerns the lethal H5N1 strain of avian influenza sweeping the region could enter the country with the influx of athletes from Southeast Asia.

Seven people were confirmed as having died of bird flu in Indonesia on Monday, part of a total of 60 people Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Stricter measures including putting in place more thermal scanners and foot disinfectants at all sea- and airports will be implemented, officials said.

Screening will also be done through questions in the accreditation process, they said.

"We cannot take chances and be complacent in handling this threatening health risk that already killed many and infected hundreds," health secretary Francisco Duque said.

"We are making arrangements with the participating countries to ensure that participants to be sent are not infected with the virus," Duque told reporters.

A delegate detected with fever or influenza would be immediately placed under quarantine for a week-long observation and could be sent back if he or she tests positive for H5N1.

There is no known case of bird flu either among birds of humans in the Philippines.

Scientists warn that continued contact between infected birds and humans might eventually result in the virus mutating into a form that could be easily passed on between people, sparking a pandemic that could kill millions.