Swine flu fears prompt face mask action in UK
Yesterday Thomas Cook cancelled all Thomas Cook and Airtours holidays to Cancun for the next seven days and Thomson Holidays' parent company TUI said it would not be operating any more flights to Mexico until the Foreign Office travel advice changed.
Shares in holiday companies also saw another day of losses as fears over the spread of the virus kept world markets under pressure.
The European Commission warned that swine flu outbreaks were likely to get worse in Europe over the next few days, but advised the public not to panic.
Health Commissioner Androulla Vasiliou said there were still only three confirmed cases in the EU - one in Spain and two in the UK - but suspected cases in Ireland, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Greece and the Czech Republic.
So far 152 people are thought to have been killed in Mexico by the virus, which is caused when the H1N1 strain associated with pigs crosses over to the human population.
Outbreaks have also been confirmed in Scotland, the United States, Canada, Spain, New Zealand and Israel.
WHO's assistant director-general, Keiji Fukuda, said the level four alert was "a significant step towards pandemic influenza".
Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, the Government's chief medical adviser, said there were enough anti-virals to treat "half the population" if they became ill.
Dr Maureen Baker, the honorary secretary of the Royal College of GPs, said family doctors should reassure patients that they could expect to recover from flu within a week - even if it was swine flu.
In the US, the number of cases continued to rise, including hundreds suspected at a single New York City school. Other US cases have been reported in Ohio, Kansas, Texas and California. At least 11 cases were confirmed in New Zealand, six in Canada, two in Spain and one in Israel. None of the cases outside Mexico have been fatal.
Mexican health secretary Jose Angel Cordova said the epidemic was entering an extremely dangerous phase, with the number of people infected mushrooming even as authorities were improving defences.
