Fed: Australian travel advice to Mexico upgraded

AAP General News (Australia)
04-29-2009
Fed: Australian travel advice to Mexico upgraded

CANBERRA, April 29 AAP - Advice urging Australians not to travel to Mexico reflects
the gravity of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) warning about the swine flu threat,
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Tuesday upgraded its travel warning
to Australians planning to travel to Mexico, as the suspected death toll there from swine
flu rose to more than 150.

"We advise you to reconsider your need to travel to Mexico at this time because of
the outbreak of a severe strain of swine influenza in humans," the federal government's
smarttraveller.gov.au website said.

"If you are in Mexico and concerned for your health, you should consider leaving."

The Australian Embassy in Mexico City will also no longer provide over-the-counter
visa services, but consular and passport services are operating normally.

Mr Smith said the changes reflected those made by the WHO which has raised its six-phase
flu pandemic alert level from three to four, signalling a "significant increase in the
risk of a pandemic."

Australians who chose to remain in Mexico should take all the proper health precautions,
Mr Smith said.

"If you are in Mexico you should certainly follow the advice of the local authorities
and follow all the practical medical advice being given not just by Australian authorities
but by the World Health Organisation," he told Sky News on Wednesday.

Canada and Cuba have suspended flights to and from Mexico in response to the global
health crisis, while Mexico City officials have ordered all eateries, bars and other such
venues closed.

Mr Smith said as there were no confirmed cases of swine flu in Australia, the government
would refrain from implementing such drastic measures itself.

"I think we are a very long way from that," he said.

"Whilst we want to be safe rather than sorry, while we want to take every precautionary
measure, we do need to keep things in perspective."

Australia has already introduced new quarantine powers, including allowing authorities
to detain people suspected of having the potentially deadly virus.

"Those powers are there, we currently don't see the need to utilise them," Mr Smith said.

"We continue to monitor the situation ... and if we belive that additional measures
are required, they will be taken."

Mr Smith said the world had learnt from the outbreak of SARS in 2002-03, which infected
more than 8,000 and killed 774 people.

But he wouldn't speculate on whether swine flu would be similarly devastating.

"I think it is early days, I think we still need to get the scientific analysis as
to what has been the cause of the deaths in Mexico," Mr Smith said.

Earlier on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Health Minister Nicola Roxon said 91 Australians
with flu symptoms were being checked for the potentially deadly virus.

"We've also got some Australians who we know were travelling with a party of 22 New
Zealanders, some of who have been confirmed to be suffering with swine flu and they are
being effectively tracked down and proposed to be tested as well," Mr Smith said.

He conceded the disease could also have an economic impact.

"It will depend on firstly how long it lasts, but anything which is destructive to
the international exchange of goods and services of course has adverse economic consequences,"

he said.

AAP bsb/it/bwl

KEYWORD: FLU AUST SMITH

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