Govt's swine flu focus switches to management

Health minister Tony Ryall. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Health authorities are moving to manage rather than contain swine flu as outbreaks in major cities continue to swell and a woman is in critical condition in Wellington Hospital intensive care unit.

Health Minister Tony Ryall said the 30-year-old morbidly obese woman, who has respiratory problems , had swine flu.

The cumulative total of confirmed cases has reached 216, of whom 158 were sick now. The past week saw cases surge by 120.

There were 643 suspected cases but figures were expected to climb much higher than that.

The change announced today was about how the outbreak was managed, Mr Ryall said.

"We're remaining in code yellow we are not moving to code red, this is a reflection of the spread, not the severity, of the flu," he said.

"We are moving today because of the widespread community transmission of swine flu, the fact that we've got large numbers of people out there in the community (infected).

"Our focus is now moving to helping those people in the community that have the illness."

Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland were worst hit.

Wellington and Christchurch were swapping to the management phase now with Auckland swapping over on Monday. Other regions would schedule their own move.

Gisborne, Northland, Taranaki and Otago-Southland would continue with a containment strategy because there were no confirmed cases in those areas.

Health authorities were now focusing on ensuring community-based health services were able to manage large numbers of people with flu as well as maintain services for other ill people.

Those who can were encouraged to look after themselves at home they way they would with any other flu.

People were urged to get the normal winter flu vaccination and more doses had been bought.

"There's no reason for people to be alarmed. This, for most New Zealanders will be a mild illness, it will be severe for some and we are making sure the health service is there to provide the care that's needed for those who will have severe symptoms."

Mr Ryall said ill people should stay at home and seek help if they got very sick.

Tamiflu would be used for very ill people and not to help prevention. Some quarantining would be used in strategic ways.

Businesses were unlikely to need to close.

Mr Ryall released charts showing the spread of the confirmed case rates and said health authorities here had managed to delay the spread by about eight weeks.

A comparison with Australia showed their cases dramatically rise from the end of May, and New Zealand's from now.

He said it was "almost impossible" to keep track of how many people had the flu.

Deputy director of public health Darren Hunt said most people would not be tested for swine flu now.

It would be hard to say how many had caught swine flu but weekly consultation rates for flu-like symptoms were double than at the same time last year.

- NZPA