Swine flu alert as Mexico flight lands at Birmingham International Airport

Apr 28 2009 By Christina Savvas and Paul Suart

Thomson said it was now making arrangements to get clients home from Mexico and that repatriation flights were expected to start today.

The company said: “While we do appreciate that the new news may be a great disappointment to customers, we hope they will also understand that their health and safety is of paramount importance to us.”

It added that flights due to operate to Mexico from tomorrow onwards were under discussion and decisions would be made later today.

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 the United States, Canada and Spain. Suspected cases from New Zealand to Israel were raising concern that the new virus was spreading rapidly.

It was also confirmed that four people in the Republic of Ireland were being tested.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) in Dublin said the results of those tests were expected this morning.

WHO’s assistant director-general Keiji Fukuda said “at this time containment is not a feasible option” as the virus has already spread to several other countries.