H1N1 - Tapering off in S'pore, panic in India

My mom is a loyal follower of her ustaz/Muslim cleric at her local mosque in Choa Chu Kang in Temasek Darul NoAgama.
In the early days of the Influenza A (H1N1), it was called Swine Flu.
In Bahasa, that sounded horrible: Demam Babi.
Sensitif, beb.

And then the demam was renamed.
My mom told me her ustaz said,
'Dia ingat dia boleh sembunyi di belakang nama lain.
'Apa itu H1N1? Maknanya Haram No.1, Najis No.1 (ie he was referring to Babi).'
Ouch.

[Actually, if you are Muslim, read here: Islam says we cannot eat the babe. It did NOT say we should HATE it. Because sometimes Muslims like super BENCI/hate this poor animal with the cute flat nose. If we hate pig rearing, it is because of hygiene issues and the horrible smell of its waste -- hate the bloody dirty farmers not the oinkyoinky. Kasihan dia :-) ]
[Of course, after SARS and JE, Muslims are saying 'I told you so' about the meat of the twirly-tailed one. Seems its body is a good incubator of some virus. I said seems because I am no scientist].


Even our fav Information Minister Rais Yatim, wants the H1N1 called Selsema Babi.
That is, if it was up to him, he would call it Selsema Babi. Not H1N1.
When the whole world changed it to H1N1.
Surprising, because surely he knew unlike SARS or JE, this flu's link to the animal that Muslims and Jews don't eat is more remote. There is more avian/burung and human/manusia link as much as swine. See PICTURE.


Anyway, I sense a mild panic rising in Malaysia with this, ahem, Demam Babe.
Because as of Thursday, 44 people have died!

In Singapore, the number of victim is 10.
Of course, Temasek the tiny island is small compared to Malaysia. Still, it is a densely populated place compared to Malaysia. It is I think among the top 10 densest places on earth after places like Hong Kong and maybe Tokyo (and Gaza, said to be THE smallest place with the most people).

And now, good news. The Temasek government thinks the worse is over for the tiny island.

In India though, the a real panic is just starting. Part of my job is to understand events there, and sadly, I sense the panic will get worse.
Only 20 dead so far, but 10 came from Pune city in Maharashtra state (where Mumbai/Bombay is located), so there is real fear of a pandemic.
The government even had to warn TV stations to stop creating panic.


The reason why Temasek's H1N1 is slowly tapering off?

The Straits Times:
The experience of previous pandemics suggests that herd immunity will develop in one to three weeks' time, said National University Hospital's infectious diseases division head Paul Ananth Tambyah.
The rate of infections will slow as more people become exposed to the virus.


If that is correct, Malaysia's herd immunity should kick in soon enough. If I am not mistaken, the virus reached Singapore at about the same time as Malaysia.
But if you are really worried, stay away from malls, cinemas, restaurants.
Makan kat rumah dengan keluarga. How nice!