“A panel of at least two doctors will provide close consultation to parents in discussing the option of pregnancy termination in microcephaly cases,” Dr Tawee Chotpitayasunond, a specialist at the Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health, a unit of the Medical Services Department, said yesterday.

Under Thai law, pregnancies may be terminated on reasonable grounds such as a serious disease when the foetus is not over 24 weeks old. Late last week, Thailand confirmed its first two cases of microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size that has been linked to Zika.

The Zika virus is not dangerous to people in general.

“Not all babies born to Zika-infected women get microcephaly. The odds are 1-30 per cent,” said Tawee, who was speaking as the chairman of a meeting on the guidelines for caring for expectant women who are suspected of carrying the Zika virus.

Raising a child with microcephaly

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The New Paper

The meeting brought together medical specialists from various hospitals as well as Professor Pisek Lumpikanon, president of the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Pisek said the guidelines were prepared and released to address Zika risks.

For example, if pregnant women suffer Zika-related symptoms such as a skin rash, muscle and joint pain or eye inflammation, they must immediately undergo urine and blood tests.

“If the tests show they caught the Zika virus, no matter how advanced their pregnancy is, they must undergo an ultrasound check immediately too,” he said.

In normal cases, women will undergo an ultrasound examination when their pregnancy is 18-20 weeks old.

What is the Zika virus?

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Reuters, The Straits Times, The New Paper, NEA

“Monthly checks are also necessary. If the head size of the foetus inside their womb is smaller than standard, they must be referred to medical specialists,” he said.

Pregnant women without any Zika-related symptoms should undergo ultrasound checks twice – 18-20 weeks into their pregnancy and 28-30 weeks.

“If microcephaly is detected, parents and doctors will have close consultations about how to proceed in the best interests of both the mother and baby,” he said.

Tawee said that if microcephaly were detected when a pregnancy had already progressed more than 24 weeks, any decision made would be on a case-by-case basis.

Pisek urged pregnant women to see doctors if they develop a rash.

“Use a condom if they engage in sex. Apply mosquito-repellent cream that is safe for pregnant women,” he said.

Mosquitoes are Zika vectors. Zika can also be spread via sexual activities.

Tawee said Thailand was the first Asian country to develop Zika guidelines for future mothers.

MANILA – Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has been rated “very good” in an opinion poll on his first 90 days in office, which has been defined largely by his deadly war on drugs and vitriol against Western leaders.

Only 11 per cent of 1,200 Filipinos surveyed by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) agency said they were dissatisfied with his performance. That gave Duterte a net satisfaction rating of 64 per cent, getting him off to a better start than predecessors Benigno Aquino, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, but short of the 66 per cent achieved by Fidel Ramos in 1992.

The rating, announced on Thursday, was calculated by deducting the 11 per cent from the 76 per cent of respondents who said they were satisfied with Duterte’s presidency, then rounding it off. Thirteen per cent were undecided.

The SWS survey did not ask respondents to give a reason for the rating. It was conducted in face-to-face interviews held from Sept. 24-27, after Duterte had a spat with President Barack Obama over criticism of his anti-dugs campaign but before he said he was seeking new alliances with China and Russia.

Anti-crime blitz sweeps Philippines as Duterte comes into power

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AFP, Reuters

A survey by Pulse Asia, another polling agency, less than a month after he took office on June 30 said Duterte had a record 91 per cent trust rating. The two polls are not comparable.

Duterte won the May 9 election by a substantial margin after promising to expand a ruthless anti-crime campaign he started while mayor of Davao City, which had earned him nicknames like”the Punisher” and “Duterte Harry”.

Political analyst Nelson Navarro said the SWS survey suggested Filipinos felt safer because Duterte had followed through with his promised war on crime and drugs, in which over 3,400 people have been killed.

He said Duterte’s abrasive style and his sometimes profane outbursts against the United States, European Union and United Nations were not discrediting him either, and supporters would rally in his defence amid criticism at home and abroad.

“This is not going to be good manners and right conduct. What you see here is exactly what you get. His tough stance has gained him popularity across the Philippines,” Navarro said.

“Everyone likes to dump on President Duterte for the extra-judicial killings but … there is a kind of backlash on the perception of the West.”

The SWS poll considers a net approval rating of over 70 per cent as “excellent” and 50-69 per cent as “very good”.

Duterte sworn in as Philippines’ 16th president

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AFP, Reuters

As part of the protest, the student organising committee of an event commemorating massacre on October 6, 1976 on Wednesday rallied at CU’s Faculty of Political Science to read a statement regarding alleged detention of Hong Kong student activist Joshua Wong.

The student committee, led by an activist Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, said that they were most concerned with Wong’s condition as the Hong Kong activist has been held incommunicado in Suvarnabhumni airport’s immigration section since Tuesday late night. Wong was deported in the afternoon.

After reading the statement, the students stood up with their umbrellas wide open, symbolising the Hong Kong protest where Wong is a prominent figure, to express their worries toward Wong.

Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong is on the way back to Hong Kong, the party’s official Facebook page said on Wednesday.

Demosistō (centre-left pro-democracy political party in Hong Kong) has just been informed by the Hong Kong Immigration Department that Secretary General Joshua Wong has boarded Hong Kong Express Airways flight HX772 earlier from Bangkok, Thailand, en route back to Hong Kong, it said.

The key players in Hong Kong’s political unrest

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He is expected to arrive at 3:45 p.m. local time. Nathan Law, legislative council of Hong Kong member and chairperson of Demosistō, will make a few brief remarks to the media at the airport. Law and Wong will discuss the case in greater length through a press conference to be held at the Legislative Council Complex at 8 p.m. tonight.

Meanwhile, Wong’s fellow party’s member at 1 pm local time gathered and marched to the Thai Consulate in Hong Kong in protest against his denied entry.

The protesters called for the Thai authority to immediately release Wong and explain why the activist had been detained.

They called the authority to also apologise for violating Wong’s right and condemned the authority for following Beijing’s request.

A deputy commander of the Suvarnabhumi Airport immigration office confirmed Wednesday that immigration police blacklisted Hong Kong student activist Joshua Wong as requested by china.

Pol Col Pruthipong Prayoonsiri, deputy commander of the Suvarnabhumi immigration office, said China has sent a request to the Thai government to seek co-operation to deny him entry to the kingdom.

“As a result, the Immigration Bureau blacklisted him and held him for deportation. When officers informed him, Joshua Wong did not oppose it,” Pruthipong said.

“The detention and deportation of Joshua Wong are yet another indicator that Thailand’s military government will use any available means to stifle political discourse in the country,” the statement quoted Champa Patel, Amnesty International’s Senior Research Adviser for South East Asia and the Pacific, as saying.

Wong was detained upon his arrival at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport late last night. He had travelled to Thailand to speak at a public event commemorating a 1976 violent crackdown on Thai student protesters by police, military, and paramilitary groups.