Who Needs A Raise?

The massive increase in confirmed cases on a daily basis, that I have been reporting, appear to have slowed. On the 7th May 2009, there are under 200 more confirmed cases around the world. But we will leave these details until later. Exams may be cancelled around the UK, seeing students being awarded their predicted grades. Numbers are important in exams..

There are 46 dead around the world:
- 44 in Mexico
- 2 in the US
- 100 further suspected dead in Mexico

A relatively small rise to 2390 confirmed cases around the world:
- 1112 in Mexico
- 913 in the United States
- 201 in Canada
- 81 in Spain
- 34 in the UK
- 10 in France
- 9 in Germany
- 5 in Italy, Israel and New Zealand
- 3 in South Korea
- 2 in the Netherlands and El Salvador
- 1 in Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, Poland, Sweden, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Portugal and Colombia
- This means that there are confirmed cases in 24 countries, spanning 5 continents.
- The statistics on suspected cases are now less reliable since Canada and Mexico have stopped reporting suspected cases. I am led to believe there are now over 4000 suspected cases, with over 800 of these probable, in 42 countries around the world.
- All figures are correct from Wikipedia, at 21:35 GMT+1, BST.

Today, the Department of Health in the UK have asked the public if they believe swine flu has been "hyped" by the media. See the story here. Well done UK government for financing another pointless survey. Why are we not asking experts this. Instead of random people that don't really know the full story. So therefore cannot give a valid opinion. If these people do not know all the the risks, they cannot answer this question. Many people do not know the latest facts about swine flu.

WHO have felt it necessary to reissue their statement to "avoid any misunderstanding" on the safety of pigs and pork products when it comes to swine flu. It can be viewed here. It basically says that there is a chance that swine flu could be caught from pigs and pork products. They also says that as long as pork products are heated to 70 oC (degrees Celsius), the recommended heat anyway, at their core then all trace of virus is killed.

The blog is officially hosted here. There is a poll, a share button making it easy to share this blog with friends and comments are allowed on the blog.

It's my week anniversary tomorrow, so expect an update.

Stuart Wright
Swine Flu Daily