Swine flu alert as Mexico flight lands at Birmingham International Airport

Apr 28 2009 By Christina Savvas and Paul Suart

He said: “We were staying two hours from Cancun. You wouldn’t have known anything was wrong but for the television. There was no mention of it at the resort.

“We were some distance from the outbreak, if we’d been closer I would have been more concerned.

“We thought there might be some screening, but there’s been absolutely nothing.”

He added one person had been taken ill at the start of their flight but thought this was unrelated.

Mrs Cashmore said: “There were a few people wearing masks in Cancun but they were locals working at the airport.

“We just hope we’re safe and that’s it. My husband had a bit of a cold on the plane but we think that’s just a coincidence. If it continues he’ll have to go to the doctors.”

The Foreign Office said today: “We are now advising against all but essential travel to Mexico.”

It added that British nationals “resident in or visiting Mexico may wish to consider whether they should remain in Mexico at this time”.

The two confirmed patients, Iain and Dawn Askham, of Polmont, near Falkirk, had reportedly been on honeymoon in Mexico and were being treated today in isolation at Monklands Hospital in Airdrie, Lanarkshire.

Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said yesterday they had tested positive and seven of 22 people who had been in contact with them were showing “mild symptoms”.

UK holiday company Thomson said that it was cancelling two outbound flights from the UK to the Mexican resort of Cancun today and repatriating holidaymakers already in Mexico.

The flights to Cancun had been due to leave from Manchester at 9.30am and from Gatwick at 9.15am.