Expo leaders say H1N1 won't hurt attendance

The spread of H1N1 flu will have little impact upon next year's World Expo in Shanghai, organizers of the event said yesterday.

"From the present experience, we see that the flu can be prevented and placed under control despite its rampant spread around the world. So we don't think the flu is a major issue here," Zhou Hanmin, deputy director of the World Expo 2010 Shanghai Executive Committee, told China Daily on the sidelines of the Seventh International Forum on Expo 2010 yesterday in Beijing.

"As the organizers, we'll come up with all necessary countermeasures to ensure health and security for next year's big event. In fact, health is always a big concern in our planning, even without the threat of the H1N1 flu," he said, without elaborating on the potential measures involved.