BRUSSELS RESPONSE:THE EU has stopped short of issuing an overall travel ban on flights to Mexico to combat swine flu, despite French pressure at a meeting of health ministers in Luxembourg.
The 27 ministers said they were willing to share national stockpiles of antiviral medication if one EU state should fall victim to a major outbreak. However, they brushed off the Italian idea of an EU stockpile that could be doled out to needy countries as the disease progresses.
EU health commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said she would issue travel advice and information to citizens in the coming days on the best way to contain the spread of what the European Commission calls the “novel flu virus”.
She said said 5,000 citizens of one member state – which she refused to name – were currently in Mexico on holiday.
“Without underestimating the seriousness of the existing situation, we believe we are prepared to deal with this. We are worried, but we are on top of things, so there is no need to panic,” she said. Ministers agreed to share more information through the EU’s early warning system, and to co-ordinate precautionary measures.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) recommended that all unnecessary travel to Mexico be deferred until further notice.
It said last evening that the number of confirmed cases worldwide stood at 203, but that the situation was evolving rapidly.
There were 24 confirmed cases of the flu in the EU last night, while the chief medical officer at the Department of Health announced a probable case in the Republic. The ECDC says 40-50 per cent of Europeans were likely to be affected by the strain, although many of the cases would probably be mild.
The pork trade has been hard hit by the use of the term “swine flu”, and the commission has implored people to continue eating pork. However, the EU has banned imports of pig products from Mexico, and of live pigs from the US.