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3 December 2006
By Vincent Moss Political Editor
3 December 2006
By Vincent Moss Political Editor
THOUSANDS of people will take part in a giant exercise next month to prepare Britain for a lethal bird flu outbreak - with parts of the country sealed off and patrolled by police.
Operation "Winter Willow" will involve all the emergency services, town hall officials and government ministers including Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt and Environment Secretary David Miliband.
Police will stop people entering the exclusion zones and emergency centres will be set up. Ministers are also considering allowing TV cameras to film the exercise to ease public fears.
The Government has drawn up the contingency plans amid concern that bird flu could mutate into a form which can be transmitted between humans. The exercise will take place in two stages, starting on January 30 and then February 19 and 20.
Government experts fear up to seven million Britons could die in a major outbreak. A senior minister said: "That is a worst case scenario. But we are overdue for a flu pandemic and when it arrives as many as one in four people could be affected."
Precautions could include closing public transport and masks being issued to millions of people. There have been 250 cases of bird flu in humans in Asia since 2003, plus suspected human cases in Somalia and South Korea
.
Operation "Winter Willow" will involve all the emergency services, town hall officials and government ministers including Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt and Environment Secretary David Miliband.
Police will stop people entering the exclusion zones and emergency centres will be set up. Ministers are also considering allowing TV cameras to film the exercise to ease public fears.
The Government has drawn up the contingency plans amid concern that bird flu could mutate into a form which can be transmitted between humans. The exercise will take place in two stages, starting on January 30 and then February 19 and 20.
Government experts fear up to seven million Britons could die in a major outbreak. A senior minister said: "That is a worst case scenario. But we are overdue for a flu pandemic and when it arrives as many as one in four people could be affected."
Precautions could include closing public transport and masks being issued to millions of people. There have been 250 cases of bird flu in humans in Asia since 2003, plus suspected human cases in Somalia and South Korea
.