D Friday, October 23, 2009 METRO With the 50c City Centre Fare from Dublin Bus, you can pop around town in no time for a coffee or two with friends. This Fare is valid within a special City Centre Zone - just ask the driver for a City Centre Fare when you board any bus where you see the pink sign, stating your destination within the City Centre Zone*. Thanks to improved bus priority including the College Green Bus Corridor and QBCs, transport into and around Dublin City has never been quicker. Available where you see this sign. For full details on the City Centre Fare see www.dublinbus.ie Get the bus and a skinny mocha-chino-whatever with the City Centre Fare. *Excluding Nitelink, Airlink, Xpresso services, flat fare services, Ferry services, Tours, Special Events and Private Contract services. www.dublinbus.ie H1N1 robot helps docs A ROBOT designed to help doctors diagnose swine flu has been unveiled at an exhibition in Tokyo. The life-sized humanoid exhibits symptoms of the H1N1 flu virus and was developed to help medical workers recognise symptoms of the illness and learn to treat patients. The robot sweats, moans, cries and convulses, just like a human with the swine flu virus would. Four new swine flu deaths as cases double this weekBy Brian huttonFOUR people with swine flu have died in Ireland this week as new cases of the virus almost doubled. The recent deaths bring the total number of H1N1 fatalities to eight, as health chiefs said last night an- other 14 patients are in intensive care units half of them having been admitted last week alone. The two women and two men who died since Sun- day like the four previous victims were all suffer- ing from underlying medical conditions, the Depart- ment of Health and Children said, adding that GPs now see 7,000 new cases a week as they prepare to start vaccinating at-risk groups on November 2. Dr Colette Bonner, deputy chief medical officer, said flu-like illness rates were at their highest on record 158.8 per 100,000, up from 97.1 last week but she added that for most the illness will be mild. She warned pregnant women are four times more likely to develop serious complications or be brought to hospital with swine flu than other women. Of the 71 people being treated in hospital for swine flu, 43 per cent have underlying medical conditions while three-quarters are aged under 35. In Northern Ireland and Britain, vaccinations of healthcare workers and at-risk hospital patients be- gan yesterday. Eight people have died in Northern Ireland so far, with 120 deaths in Britain. About 400,000 people in high-risk groups are to get the first round of the vaccine, including pregnant women and people with chronic illnesses. Cystic fibrosis sufferer Darina Calpin, 18, from Co Sligo, died on August 7 from the virus, followed by 55-year-old Dublin bank official Billy Graham, weeks later. Last month two women, both with med- ical conditions, died within a week of each other. home at last: Sharon hugs President Mcaleese while her father Mark looks on, main; and left, with Foreign affairs Minister Michel Martin Pictures: PA Rescued aid worker made of tough stuff PRESIDENT Mary McAleese last night paid tribute to the courage and strength of an aid worker who suffered almost four months in captivity in war-torn Sudan. Mrs McAleese praised Sharon Commins for lifting the spirits of the nation with an inspiring story of survival under appalling circumstances. As the President received Ms Commins, her parents, Mark and Agatha, and brothers, Derek and Martin, at ras an Uachtarin, she said the aid worker was made of tough stuff which helped her through a hellish ordeal. Ms Commins and her Ugandan colleague Hilda Kawuki, who were snatched from a Goal compound in Darfur on July 3, were released early on Sunday morning. Dressed in an emerald green dress to display her Irishness, the 32-year-old heard how her kidnapping provoked an outpouring of concern, prayer, hope and solidarity that grew during each of the 107 long days she endured. index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html