Longer, Warmer Autumn Leads to Increased Flu Risk

Longer, Warmer Autumn Leads to Increased Flu Risk

This autumn has been longer and warmer than previous years, prompting doctors to warn that it could lead to a rapid spread of flu infections.

Cai Baiqiang, director of the respiratory department in Peking Union Medical College Hospital, says the flu virus is more active during a warm autumn and can reproduce and spread more quickly, especially amongst children and senior citizens whose immune systems are weaker.

The Beijing meteorological bureau says the average temperature this autumn has been more than 15C. In previous years, the average temperature was less than 14C.

Meteorologists define autumn as the season when the daily temperature is between 10C and 22C. This autumn is expected to be as long as 55 days, compared to the average of 40 days.

Youths Worst Hit by H1N1

Doctors say children and teenagers are the hardest hit by a rise in A(H1N1) flu cases across Beijing.

The Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control says the number of people suffering H1N1 had risen 12 percent to 5,851 in the past week.

Patients aged between 10 and 20 accounted for 62 percent of total cases.

The bureau says about 52 percent of the total flu patients in Beijing are suffering from H1N1, and the remainder have contracted seasonal influenza.
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In response to the rise in flu patients, health authorities have launched a new campaign to prevent the spread of H1N1 flu in schools.

Under the campaign, schools are required to carry out daily health inspections, and the class should be closed when two H1N1 flu cases are reported within two weeks. Students who show flu-like symptoms at home or school should be sent to hospitals immediately.

In addition, people who suspect they have the virus are urged to go to hospital and receive treatment to reduce the chances of infection to others.

Meanwhile, more medicine and medical facilities will be sent to local community hospitals and health service stations to help cope with demand.

'Chinese Disney' to Be Built in Hunan

A new development in central China's Hunan Province is gaining some buzz, promising to be China's answer to Walt Disney.

The cultural and technological industries base in Hunan, the largest of its kind in central China, covers an area of 500 hectares and has a total investment of 15 billion yuan, or 2.2 billion U.S. dollars.

The project, hailed as "Chinese Disney", will include two theme parks and a series of bases for creative industries, cartoons, films and television postproduction and personnel training.

The first phase of the project will be completed and available for visitors before May 1, 2011.

Kids as Young as 9 to Receive Career Advice

Children in British primary schools as young as nine are to receive advice via internet sites such as YouTube on their future career paths under a new scheme.

Under the program designed to help children of all socio-economic backgrounds realize their goals, students will be given mentors, have the chance to visit universities, and be given counseling on what subjects to study via social networking sites like Facebook.

The British government says a recent study showed that 75 percent of 11-year-olds want to attend university.

Ed Balls, the government education secretary, said in a statement that "It is often too late for children to start thinking about this at 14 when they are influenced as early as seven years old."

This Is It

This Is It, the film documenting the rehearsals of Michael Jackson's come-back concerts, debuted for Chinese audiences just after midnight this morning.