Closing borders an option in fight against Bird Flu

To protect against bird flu, New Zealand would most likely close its borders to incoming travellers once large clusters of human-to-human transmission started happening overseas.

The Government released its plan for handling an influenza pandemic this afternoon.

New Zealand and international health authorities have been working overtime planning for a possible flu pandemic following the slowly growing number of cases of bird flu.

More than 60 people in Asia have died from the virulent H5N1 strain which has led to the deaths of millions of birds.

There is only weak evidence of human-to-human transmission of the virus, but authorities fear it could change to spread efficiently between humans and cause the next flu pandemic.

To envisage the potential effects, the New Zealand looks back to the 1918-19 global epidemic of Spanish flu, in which an estimated 50 million to 100 million people died, including about 8000 in New Zealand.

If the next pandemic is as severe, it could kill 33,000 New Zealanders.

The plan outlines the powers state officials could exercise and the likely trigger points for enacting them.

Border restrictions, like holding all incoming passengers and crew from affected countries while checking for flu cases, could be implemented once small clusters of people were becoming infected overseas with a new sub-type of the flu virus.

Schools and all public gatherings could be banned once a single case was detected in New Zealand if not related to birds or travel.


- HERALD STAFF