Asean meeting on H1N1 begins

The Asean+3 health ministers’ meeting began at the Dusit Thani hotel in Bangkok on Thursday morning amidst tight security provided by more than a thousand policemen and soldiers.

Public Health Ministry permanent secretary Prat Boonyawongwirote chaired the meeting attended by the health ministers and senior health officials from the 10 Asean countries plus China, Japan, and South Korea.

Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai had earlier talked with the Chinese health minister and senior South Korean health officials.

The special meeting was called to discuss how the region would handle the outbreak of A/H1N1 influenza.

As Poland and Sweden announced their first confirmed cases of infection the  World Health Organization said that 1,893 people have been infected so far.

There was no sign of any group of protestors around the meeting venue.