Nine days after swine flu was detected in New Zealand, the Ministry of Health believes the public are not at great risk of being infected, but it is remaining cautious.
The ministry said yesterday that there was no evidence swine flu had spread beyond people who had travelled to Mexico or the United States, or people who had been in close contact with them.
A spokesman said the World Health Organisation's pandemic danger signs - community outbreaks and unexplainable human-to-human transmission - were not evident in New Zealand.
However, there is still the possibility that it could continue to mutate and be a threat, Health Ministry deputy director of public health Darren Hunt said today.
"Influenza viruses can change and that's another good reason to take a precautionary approach," he told Radio New Zealand.
"Keep it out of the community just in case the virus does change and become more severe."
It was particularly important as southern hemisphere countries such as New Zealand headed into the traditional winter flu season, Dr Hunt said.
"Certainly, going into the winter flu season we don't want an additional load of more influenza in the country circulating.
"We also don't have a perfect handle on what this new virus is like yet, and so we are making a lot of effort to ensure there is no community transmission of it."
To date, there had been no spreading of the virus within the community, he said.
Calls to the Healthline with swine flu queries have tapered off. However, health authorities have been tightening controls to ensure the bug is contained and stamped out.
Dr Hunt said he believed the swift reaction by health authorities here had kept the outbreak well contained, but that they were ready if the situation deteriorated.
Prime Minister John Key said today the Government did not over-react to the swine flu threat.
"We did everything we should be doing," he said on NewstalkZB.
"You can't sit back when there's a potential pandemic and do nothing.
"The Government put its pandemic plan into action, it was a good plan and it was well thought-through."
Mr Key said New Zealand's response was ahead of a lot of other countries.
"That shows how efficient our systems are."
International passengers arriving in Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown must fill out detailed locator cards to ensure that they can be easily and quickly contacted.
The ministry said it was a precaution in case the disease was found to have taken hold in other countries after the flights had arrived.
A flu management protocol to prevent the spread of the bug has been sent to Auckland's general practices. The "toot three times" policy recommends that people who have travelled to affected areas or are suffering flu-like symptoms wait outside clinics and toot their horns for medical help. This would give doctors or nurses time to protect themselves before escorting patients into isolation.
A person who arrived in Auckland from the US last Tuesday is the latest in the country suspected of having swine flu. Ministry of Health deputy director of Public Health Darren Hunt said the person had tested positive for influenza A and samples were being tested for swine flu (H1N1). Health officials were attempting to find people who had been on flight NZ7 from San Francisco and had been in close contact with the person.
This brought the number of probable cases in New Zealand to 13. Four cases had been confirmed and 89 people had been suspected of having the illness. In total, there were 360 people in isolation or quarantine taking Tamiflu, up 91 from Saturday.
Three Samoan nationals who were on the same flight as the Rangitoto College students suspected to have swine flu have been cleared. The trio were among the 18 passengers on flight NZ1 who could not be located, but were later traced to Samoa.
Meanwhile, a 45-year-old New Zealand man was being tested for H1N1 on Penang, a Malaysian resort island, after complaining of fever and aches.
Anyone who has travelled to Mexico or North America in the last seven days should contact Healthline (0800 611 116) for information. They should seek medical advice if they are displaying flu-like symptoms. Click here for the Ministry of Health’s influenza website
