Swine flu 'lands' in Pakistan tomorrow

Civil Aviation Authority officials have been intimated by a multinational IT company that three of their officials with symptoms of swine flu will land at Allama Iqbal International Airport at 3:00 am by Emirates Airline on Friday (tomorrow).
Health Department sources disclosed that after the intimation of arrival of swine flu patients, the CAA had arranged three rooms at Sheikh Zayed Hospital for their treatment.
According to the sources, CAA officials were informed by the multinational company that its three employees who had been sent to Mexico for the training purpose were somehow affected by the swine flu and now they were coming back by Emirates Airline from Mexico via Dubai. The company requested the CAA authorities to make full arrangements for their isolation and treatment.
On contact, a CAA officer seeking anonymity said that they had talked to Sheikh Zayed Hospital management for the reservation of three rooms in this respect and rooms had been quarantined.
It is worth mentioning here that on Wednesday there was a rumour in the city that some swine flu-affected passengers were arriving by a Toronto return flight PK-790. In the meanwhile, media people gathered at the airport and sought such passengers and all the 230 passengers on board had to go trough medical examination but no one was found affected with the swine flu.
Spokesman of the CAA, when contacted, said that no patient was traced by the Health Department and CAA affected by the swine flu.
The spokesman claimed that CAA was in contact with Health Department at all of its international airports and as per SOP the passengers having symptoms of swine flu would be kept alone at the airport for six hours after passing him through tests to wait for the results of their examinations.
Meanwhile, in view of the spread of swine flu in USA, Canada and other affected regions, the PIA has activated its Emergency Response Centre (ERC) to help control the viral infection among PIA passengers, in case any infected passenger comes on board.
Facemasks are being provided for preventing spread of this communicable disease as a proactive measure.
PIA is also actively involved in checking/screening the passengers arriving by flights from USA, Canada, Dubai and other hubs.

By: Amraiz Khan