Health Minister to announce swine flu contingency plans on Monday

PALMA
BALEARIC Health Minister, Vicenç Thomas, said yesterday that government contingency plans to tackle the spread of the swine flu virus H1N1 will be announced this coming Monday.

The plans, he said, are specifically designed to lower the impact of the virus on daily life in the Balearics, adding that his team have been working on them since April this year.

Speaking at the Adiba Summer School for the Handicapped yesterday, Vicenç explained that it is the degree to which the swine flu spreads and the rate at which the general public needs medical attention that will be the deciding factor on what contingency measures are brought to bear by the government.

The Minister said that the virus has reached a “levelling out” phase meaning that the spread of it has stabilised. There are now, he reported, 36 cases of the virus in the Balearics for every 7'000 head of population, less than there were a fortnight ago.