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HONG KONG: Asia tightened its already strict measures to keep swine flu from spreading across the region on Tuesday, after the World Health Organisation warned of a significant increase in the risk of a pandemic.
New Zealand confirmed three cases among 11 who are assumed to have caught the virus as the number of suspected infections across the region jumped.
Australia said it was probing 70 possible infections among those who had recently returned from Mexico or the United States.
South Korea reported a single case and Thai medical authorities placed a woman in quarantine in hospital for tests.
Hong Kong said it was testing four people as queues formed outside pharmacies with residents, spurred by memories of the deadly SARS virus, stocking up on medical supplies to counter any potential swine flu outbreak.
New Zealand confirmed three cases after samples from nine students and a teacher from Auckland high school Rangitoto College, who had earlier tested positive for influenza A, were tested for swine flu at a Melbourne laboratory.
An 11th person from the school was also reported by Auckland health authorities to have tested positive for influenza A on Tuesday evening.
They were among a group of 25 people from the school who returned from Mexico on Saturday.
"Unfortunately tonight we can confirm New Zealanders have tested positive to swine flu," Health Minister Tony Ryall told a press conference. "It's a time for caution and concern, but not alarm."
Officials said they were investigating a total of 43 possible cases and were still trying to trace 18 people who arrived on the same flight from Los Angeles as the main group of school children.
In neighbouring Australia, health authorities said they were investigating 70 possible cases and health officials were put on high alert.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon said clinical staff had been stationed at all international airports, while airlines operating from the Americas were required to report the health status of passengers before landing.
Most countries in the region have already increased airport checks to screen passengers arriving from affected areas and advised against non-essential travel to Mexico, where the virus has killed a suspected 152 people.
Thermal scanners have been a common feature in many Asian airports since the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic of 2003.
Japan went one step further, saying it would temporarily tighten visa restrictions for Mexican nationals as part of efforts to stop the virus entering the country and urged Japanese citizens in Mexico to return home.
It also booked 500 hotel rooms near Tokyo's Narita International Airport in case it needs them to quarantine infected travellers, Jiji Press reported.
The news agency also reported that quarantine officials had started onboard checks of passengers on planes arriving from Mexico, the United States and Canada
The World Health Organisation's Keiji Fukuda said a pandemic was not inevitable and that while the hike in its alert level was a "significant step towards pandemic influenza, it's also a phase which says we are not there yet".
If the world health body further increased its alert level, Japan would quarantine arrivals suspected of having the virus, as well as those who accompany them and flight attendants, for 10 days of tests, Jiji said.
Hong Kong, which was at the forefront of the SARS epidemic in 2003 and has since been on alert for bird flu, has already issued similar guidelines allowing for arrivals to be detained, as has Australia.
The first suspected case of the virus in East Asia was reported in a woman in South Korea just back from a trip to Mexico, health officials said.
Officials in Seoul said they would double stocks of Tamiflu and other anti-influenza drugs - enough to treat five million people.
Countries including New Zealand have said contingency plans drawn up during the bird flu epidemic that reappeared in 2003 meant health authorities had plentiful stocks of anti-flu medication.
Health officials in the India resort state of Goa on Tuesday said they were trying to track down 500 British holidaymakers who arrived in the Indian resort state after the outbreak of swine flu.
State epidemiologist Rajendra Tamba said they were planning to take throat swab samples of the tourists as a precautionary measure to prevent infection after a number of confirmed cases in Western countries.
Health experts have expressed fears that the relatively low death rate and mild symptoms seen in some cases of the current strain could allow the virus to spread faster.
However Yuen Kwok-yung, head of microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, said it was too early to establish the extent of the threat.
"It is very likely we are at the beginning of a pandemic. We are near there," said Yuen, who is heading the University of Hong Kong team looking into the virus. - AFP/ir/de
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