DUSHANBE, November 5, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- The first meeting of the republican commission for combating swine influenza, presided over by Minister of Health Nusratullo Salimov, was held at the Republican Center for Sanitary and Epidemiologic Supervision in Dushanbe on November 4.

The minister familiarized those present with the H1N1 flu spread situation in the world as a whole and the Central Asian region in particular and noted that all necessary measures should be taken to prevent the spread of the disease to Tajikistan.

“No case of the swine flu has been registered in the country so far,” said Salimov, “However, the situation in neighboring countries forces us to be ready for combating the HI1N1 flu.  Cases of the swine flu have already been reported in China, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan.”

According to him, the government has endorsed the national influenza pandemic plan that will be distributed to all medical facilities of the country within the next few days.