04 January 2010 - 12H15  

China records 659 swine flu deaths in 2009
A woman wearing a face mask walks past a Christmas tree displayed south of Tiananmen Square along Qianmen Dajie, one of Beijing's oldest streets, in December, 2009. China has recorded 659 swine flu deaths in 2009, nearly all of them in the last two months of the year, and warns the danger of mass outbreaks still exists in certain areas.
A woman wearing a face mask walks past a Christmas tree displayed south of Tiananmen Square along Qianmen Dajie, one of Beijing's oldest streets, in December, 2009. China has recorded 659 swine flu deaths in 2009, nearly all of them in the last two months of the year, and warns the danger of mass outbreaks still exists in certain areas.
A Chinese student receives a free shot of the A(H1N1) vaccine at a hospital in southwest China's Chongiqng municipality in November, 2009. China has recorded 659 swine flu deaths in 2009, nearly all of them in the last two months of the year, and warns the danger of mass outbreaks still exists in certain areas.
A Chinese student receives a free shot of the A(H1N1) vaccine at a hospital in southwest China's Chongiqng municipality in November, 2009. China has recorded 659 swine flu deaths in 2009, nearly all of them in the last two months of the year, and warns the danger of mass outbreaks still exists in certain areas.

AFP - China said Monday it had recorded 659 swine flu deaths in 2009, nearly all of them in the last two months of the year, and warned that the danger of mass outbreaks still existed in certain areas.

The health ministry said the total number of A(H1N1) infections recorded since the virus was first detected last year stood at 120,940.

At the end of October, the reported death toll stood at just six. The number of recorded deaths then spiked, reaching about 180 at the start of December and 659 by the end of the month.

"The danger of an explosion of outbreaks in some places exists, and the number of fatalities and serious cases will remain at a rather high level," said Liang Wannian, director of the ministry's emergency response office.

Serious difficulties remained in containing the spread of the virus in rural areas and at schools, Liang told a press conference.

Ministry officials had already warned of a "grim" winter flu outlook, and are urging caution ahead of the February Lunar New Year holidays, when hundreds of millions of people swamp roads and railways to visit family.

In November, renowned medical whistle-blower Zhong Nanshan, who helped expose the scale of the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, said the true A(H1N1) death count was being covered up.

The government responded by ordering more accurate case reporting by officials.

China has so far vaccinated 49.9 million people, Liang said -- the largest campaign in the world, but still only a small proportion of the country's 1.3 billion people.

Chinese laboratories were at the forefront of worldwide efforts to develop and mass-produce a swine flu vaccine, but the quick clinical trials and production cycle led to concerns that the shot was perhaps unsafe.

Liang said China's vaccine was not linked to the deaths last month of two people following their inoculations.

"Following confirmation, the deaths... had nothing to do with the inoculations," Liang said, without giving the causes of death or any details about the two deceased.

Officials have said that adverse reactions were only reported in a handful of cases -- about one out of a million jabs.

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