Calls for calm over swine flu repeated

PALMA
THE Balearic Health Ministry repeated its call for calm yesterday following the death of a Nigerian woman from swine flu in Palma last week, saying there was no need for the public to wear face masks.

A spokesman for the ministry said that health authorities are on maximum alert and have taken every measure possible for prevention and control of the spread of the virus H1N1. A statement issued yesterday said that there is no need for the general public to wear masks over nose and mouth, a practice which has apparently been taken up by both Local and National Police in Calvia following last week's death of the Nigerian woman who worked in Calvia as a prostitute.

The ministry said that it is concealing nothing from the public in the strategy that it has in place to confront what, according to the World Health Organisation, has become a global pandemic. “It's a problem that affects all of us,” said the spokesman, “but since the outset, we've been prepared both in hospitals and in health centres across the region, to tackle swine flu.”