Police recruit positive for swine flu

Even the long arm of the law is not immune from the reach of swine flu, with a police recruit testing positive for the worldwide strain.

Police national manager of training Superintendent Mike Wilson said the recruit was training at the Royal New Zealand Police College in Porirua, north of Wellington. He had been isolated, treated with Tamiflu and was recovering well.

All close contacts were also being given Tamiflu, and some had been quarantined.

All new courses planned to be held at the college during the next week had been postponed, and anyone who had attended courses recently was being contacted.

"In an institutional environment such as ours, the spread of this virus was somewhat inevitable and we have established response plans in place," Mr Wilson said.

"We are working in partnership with public health to isolate and contain as much as we practically can and have been reinforcing prevention strategies already in place with our staff around maintaining good hygiene practices.

"We are contacting our staff today to advise them of the situation and give them the message that if they have flu-like symptoms, they should stay home."

- NZPA