Johannesburg - South Africa is ready for a possible outbreak of swine flu, Health Minister Barbara Hogan said Thursday after a meeting of the Southern African Development Community. Hogan said in an interview with radio station SABC that South Africa has enough medicine to deal with an outbreak.
The minister said that South Africa has had two suspected cases of swine flu already but added that neither had yet been confirmed.
She also pointed out that South Africa has experience of disease control following a recent outbreak of cholera. Provincial and national response teams are already in place to deal with cases of swine flu, she added.
Hogan appealed to the population not to panic. I'm saying to people, be sensible, but if you are worried, contact a health official." She also advised people to avoid unnecessary travel.
World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan raised the pandemic alert for swine flu by one level to phase 5 Wednesday night in Geneva.
The declaration of phase 5 is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent, though not inevitable. On Monday the UN agency raised the level from phase 3 to phase 4.
Chan said all countries should activate pandemic flu plans and called on them to be on high alert for influenza-like illnesses and pneumonia.
