Deadly strain of flu arrives in Britain

Scottish health officials treat 22 people who came into contact with first UK victims

The first British cases of swine flu were confirmed yesterday as the Government advised citizens against all "non-essential" travel to Mexico.

Tests on two patients, who were admitted to Monklands Hospital in Airdrie, Lanarkshire at the weekend after returning from holiday in Mexico, proved positive for the virus, which is suspected of causing nearly 150 deaths.

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish Health Minister, told a briefing yesterday that both patients had mild symptoms. "They are recovering well," she said.

Health officials traced 22 people with whom the patients had had contact since their return and seven had developed mild symptoms. They had not been confirmed as having swine flu and were being "appropriately cared for".

All 22 had been given antiviral drugs and advice on how to protect themselves. Passengers on the plane on which the two patients travelled were not being contacted because their symptoms only developed after they had returned to the UK and they were unlikely to have been infectious on the flight, she said.

Ms Sturgeon added: "I would reiterate that the threat to the public remains low and that the precautionary actions we have taken over the last two days have been important in allowing us to respond appropriately and give us the best prospect of disrupting the spread of the virus. However, this is a developing situation which we continue to monitor very closely, in conjunction with our colleagues in other parts of the UK and the World Health Organisation."

A third European case of the disease, caused by the lethal new flu virus, was confirmed in Spain yesterday. In Britain, ministers ordered health checks on travellers at UK ports and airports.

Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, told the Commons: "The UK has been preparing for a flu pandemic for the last five years. We have established a stockpile of enough antivirals to treat more than 33 million people," he said.

The virus, a mix of pig, bird and human genes never seen before, has caused no known deaths outside Mexico but has proved it can spread rapidly from person to person, raising fears that the world could be facing the flu pandemic long predicted by scientists.

In other developments yesterday:

*The World Health Organisation raised its pandemic alert level for the first time since the system was introduced in 2005 to monitor bird flu.

*Both the US and EU warned against non-essential travel to areas affected by swine flu.

*Shares in travel companies such as British Airways fell sharply on fears for the tourist industry.

The two British patients with the disease were being held in isolation last night, while tests were carried out. A third case, a Canadian woman being treated at a hospital in Manchester, was said to be "highly unlikely" to have swine flu. Tests were being carried out as a precaution. Mr Johnson told the Commons they were among 25 possible cases reported to health officials, of which nine had proved negative.

The remaining 14 cases had mild illness and were being treated at home while initial investigations were carried out, Mr Johnson said. Kate Corbett, who wrote exclusively for The Independent on Monday, was given the all-clear by her GP.

Mr Johnson said the Government had introduced "enhanced" health checks at ports and airports to detect travellers who might have the virus. Plans to distribute millions of packs of antiviral drugs were in place, he said.

Scotland's Chief Medical Officer Dr Harry Burns said that it appeared swine flu was not as aggressive as the avian flu strain that has been circulating in Asia and the Far East for the past five years and has infected 400 humans and caused 250 deaths. Although avian flu has a high death rate for humans, it has not proved readily transmissible.

Dr Burns said: "All of the cases [of swine flu] identified outside Mexico, as far as I'm aware, have had very minor symptoms. It does seem as if this may turn out to be much less aggressive and virulent than the avian flu strain. It's very important that people do not run away with the idea that this is the same as the avian flu we were concerned about."

The World Health Organisation's decision to raise its alert level to four recognised that containment of the outbreak was no longer feasible. "This can be interpreted as a significant step towards pandemic influenza, but also it is a phase which says that we are not there yet," said WHO assistant director general Keiji Fukuda. "A pandemic is not considered inevitable at this time."

In Spain, a man who returned from a trip to Mexico last week was found to have the virus. His condition was not serious. In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said there were 45 confirmed or likely cases and the number was expected to rise as testing of more than 100 sick students continued. The outbreak appeared to be contained in one high school in the borough of Queens.

Six cases were identified in Canada, and a New Zealand teacher and around a dozen students who recently returned from Mexico were also being treated. Suspected cases were also reported in France, Italy and Israel.

President Obama, said officials were closely monitoring cases of swine flu but he sought to ease fears. "This is obviously a cause for concern and requires a heightened state of alert. But it is not a cause for alarm," he told a meeting of the National Academy of Sciences.

Travel and leisure shares such as Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways and British Airways fell sharply, whereas makers of drugs and vaccines, such as Roche, rose. The World Bank said last year that a global flu pandemic could cost $3 trillion and cut world GDP by 5 per cent.

Latest figures

Mexico: 149 deaths (20 confirmed from swine flu)
26 confirmed live cases
1,600 suspected cases

US: 40 confirmed cases
100+ suspected

UK: 2 confirmed cases
14 suspected cases

New Zealand: 56 suspected cases

Spain: 1 confirmed case
20 suspected cases

Canada: 6 confirmed cases

Colombia: 9 suspected cases

Australia: 5 suspected cases

Switzerland: 5 suspected cases

Sweden: 5 suspected cases

France: 1 suspected

Others: Further cases suspected on two continents