Japan, China, S. Korea plan flu outbreak drill

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080630TDY01305.htm

Japan, China, S. Korea plan flu outbreak drill

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The government has decided to conduct its first joint drill with China and South Korea, possibly in October, to prepare against the possibility of an outbreak of new strains of influenza, according to sources.

Through the joint drill, the three countries hope to determine whether the sharing of information among them and their quarantine measures are satisfactory, using the results of the drill to establish new guidelines.

The Japanese government also plans to conduct joint drills with domestic medical institutions and local governments and to determine if these entities nationwide are fully prepared for a possible outbreak.

H5N1 avian influenza virus is said to have mutated into a new strain of influenza that can be passed on to humans. Many experts say such an outbreak would occur in Asia, where many people are reported to have been infected with the H5N1 virus.

Many people and items move among the three countries, as do many migrating birds. For this reason, the countries decided that cooperation was essential to prepare against possible outbreaks.

According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, the government is currently discussing the details of possible scenarios for the drills with the two other countries and related entities. The drills are expected to take place in October after the Beijing Olympic Games have finished.

The government has announced it will urge Japanese nationals living or traveling abroad to return home immediately from a foreign country in which there is an outbreak of any new influenza strain.

The basic premise of the joint drill will be that a new strain of influenza breaks out in one of the three countries.

Through the drill the government aims to confirm the effectiveness of measures already taken to strengthen the nation's quarantine system. For example, the government will see whether quarantine officials are able to determine if passengers are infected with the new strain at four airports designated to accept chartered flights carrying Japanese nationals living or traveling in one of the countries at the time of an outbreak.
(Jun. 30, 2008)

 

[Commonground]

Re: Japan, China, S. Korea plan flu outbreak drill

[I found a related article]:

Japan, China, S Korea should expand ties
Adjust font size:
We want to see the multilayered cooperative ties among three major Asian nations ? Japan, China and South Korea ? continue to advance.

The foreign ministers of the three nations met in Tokyo on Saturday and agreed that a summit meeting of their leaders should be held in Japan in September.

Summit meetings of Japanese, Chinese and South Korean leaders have so far been held on the sidelines of conferences of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It will be first time that the three leaders have held a summit independently.

Japan's bilateral relationships with China and South Korea, which have been soured by such issues as former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine, have steadily been improving. Now is an ideal time to expand the scope of cooperation among Japan, China and South Korea.

The Japan-China-South Korea summit was launched in 1999 as an informal breakfast meeting in Manila, with the agenda of the summit centered on economic issues.

Since then, it has been made a regular meeting, with political issues added to the agenda. With the framework of cooperation among the three nations expanded, the three-nation forum now has 12 kinds of ministerial meetings on issues related to trade, financial policy, health, energy, environment, and science and technology. If meetings of administrative vice-ministers and bureau chiefs are included, the number of such meetings reaches more than 40.

The framework of talks among Japan, South Korea and the United States or Japan, Australia and the United States are based on the alliance's relationship with Washington and dedicated to political and security issues.

For Japan, no trilateral relationship has more wide-ranging areas for cooperation than the Japan-China-South Korea relationship.

There are many issues that could better be handled through trilateral cooperative mechanisms rather than bilateral ones, such as dealing with the emergence of new types of influenza, seaborne garbage that reaches the shores of the three nations as well as securing fishing resources.

If the three nations can deepen their relationship of trust, it will certainly have a favorable effect on the respective bilateral relationships.

At the foreign ministerial talks, Japan, China and South Korea affirmed that they will cooperate closely on North Korea's nuclear issues, policies toward Africa and disaster countermeasures.

Japan must seek deeper understanding and cooperation from both China and South Korea over that issue, in addition to support from the US.

(China Daily June 17, 2008)
http://www.china.org.cn/international/opinion/2008-06/17/content_15839231.htm

 

[tropical]

Re: Japan, China, S. Korea plan flu outbreak drill

"whether quarantine officials are able to determine if passengers are infected with the new strain at four airports designated"

I assume they will use fast flu diag. tests.
Otherwise it seems impossible to select for quarantine also the infected pass. who will be in the (2 days?) pre-simptomatic period.