Border controls 'won't stop virus from spreading'
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Border controls will not stop the spread of swine flu, the World Health Organisation (WHO) told health officials yesterday, as countries tightened airport checks.
Experience showed that the strategy was ineffective, said Gary Hartl, a WHO spokesman. "Border controls don't work," he said. "Screening doesn't work.
"If a person has been exposed or infected, the person might not be symptomatic at the airport."
Mr Hartl was speaking as many Asian countries affected by an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) in 2003, which killed almost 800 people, set up thermal scanners at airports to screen for feverish passengers.
Janet Napolitano, the US Homeland Security Secretary, also defended her programme of border checks, saying it "makes sense".
"We're prepared as if there were a pandemic," she said. "We're not waiting."
Outbreak
However, Mr Hartl said: "It became extremely clear after Sars that the efficacy of border checks far underweighed the economic disruption. In public health terms, it didn't work."
In Mexico, the epicentre of the outbreak, there were thought to be more than 1,600 cases of H1N1 swine flu by yesterday and more than 100 deaths had been linked to the disease.
In the US, hundreds of New York schoolchildren were sick with suspected swine flu, the city's health commissioner said.
The US had a number of confirmed cases, as did New Zealand, Israel, Spain, and Canada. Others were under investigation in Peru, Brazil, Australia and South Korea.
Four suspected cases here were given the all-clear after tests. The WHO raised its pandemic alert level to phase four on its scale of one to six on Monday, indicating that the disease had begun to spread swiftly between humans.
The status remains below a full pandemic as it is not clear yet that it is able to spread in areas outside Mexico.
Androulla Vassiliou, the European Union's Health Commissioner, appeared to rescind her previous advice on limiting travel.
"Precautionary measures are advisable but at this juncture I don't see any point on restricting travelling," she said.
She has called a meeting with the pharmaceutical industry to discuss stocks of anti-viral drugs and the possibility of a vaccine. (© Daily Telegraph, London)
- Stephen Adams in London
