India doing enough to contain swine flu: WHO

Even as the World Health Organisation acknowledged that the H1N1 swine flu virus can no longer be contained as it had spread far and wide, it gave a clean chit to India on Thursday, saying the country has not reported any swine flu case and is prepared to handle a possible outbreak.

The WHO in Geneva on Wednesday night raised the pandemic alert for swine flu by one level to Phase 5. This declaration by WHO director general Margaret Chan is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent, but not inevitable. The second-highest phase is characterised by human-to-human spread of the virus in at least two countries in one WHO region.

At the same time, India kicked off a massive containment exercise, screening all international passengers coming from the US, Canada and Mexico for the virus.

In Goa, officials are trying to track down British tourists who arrived there after the deadly outbreak. At the same time in Hyderabad, a non-resident Indian who landed from Texas with suspected symptoms of swine flu has not turned up at a government-run hospital despite the advice of doctors. Now the health authorities are keeping a watch on him.

The 26-year-old man failed to turn up at Andhra Pradesh Government Chest Hospital, the nodal centre to deal with such cases. The officials of medical and health department are trying to convince him to undergo necessary tests at the hospital, which has the required wherewithal including four rooms for quarantine.

"There has been no suspected case in India," J P Narain, director communicable disease in the WHO regional office for Southeast Asia, told reporters. Asked about the NRI cae in Hyderabad, has been found with the flu symptoms, he said, "We spoke to the Indian health officials and they told us that the laboratory results of the man were negative."