Person critical with swine flu in Hawke's Bay

Tamiflu, a prescription medicine which offers resistance against swine flu, is not effective in all instances. Photo / Greg Bowker

A person infected with swine flu is in a critical condition in Hawke's Bay Regional Hospital's intensive care unit.

The person was admitted into intensive care on Thursday in a critical condition, with lab test results confirming swine flu infection on Friday night.

Spokeswoman Anna Kirk would give no further details about the gender or age of the infected person, or where they had come from.

It is New Zealand's second critical case of swine flu, with a 30-year-old Lower Hutt woman already in intensive care at Wellington Hospital.

Nine cases of H1N1 had been reported in Hawke's Bay in the last seven days, the Ministry of Health said.

The national total of confirmed cases of swine flu in New Zealand reached 587 in New Zealand today, with 64 more confirmed cases since yesterday. Two hundred and eighty-six of the cases were current, ministry spokeswoman Julz Britnell said.

In the past week, another 70 cases of swine flu had been reported in Auckland, another 77 in Wellington and another 88 in Christchurch. Twelve new cases had been reported in Waikato, and eight in Bay of Plenty, she said.

The latest global total on June 26 had reached 59,814, with 263 deaths, the World Health Organisation website said.

- NZPA