The government of Trinidad and Tobago has confirmed that there are four confirmed cases of swine flu in the country.Health Minister Jerry Narace made the announcement Thursday as the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared it a pandemic, the first since the Hong Kong flu of 1976.
Narace said two women from Tobago have the virus, in addition to two women in Trinidad who had been previously infected. However he said while there is cause for serious concern, there is no need for citizens to panic.
He assured reporters that the patients are isolated and are doing well and reiterated that his ministry is well prepared to respond to the H1N1 virus.
“All of our public health facilities are on high alert and they have specific protocols in place to respond to this situation,” he said.
He also appealed to people to take all the necessary health and sanitary precautions and to continue to check with doctors if they develop flu-like symptoms and had "travelled or been in contact with a person who has travelled to the affected countries in the past seven days."
The WHO has made it clear that raising swine flu to pandemic level does not mean that the virus has become more severe. Officials say it is because the virus has moved to a larger geographical area.
The latest bulletin at 07:00 GMT, 12 June 2009, states that 74 countries have officially reported 29,669 cases of the flu. There have been 145 deaths.
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