World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan told reporters from the WHO's Geneva, Switzerland, headquarters that the Mexican swine flu cases, as well as eight non-fatal cases detected in the United States, are "a serious situation" that could develop into a pandemic, CNN reported.

Saying it was impossible to predict a pandemic, Chan said nevertheless, "This is an animal strain of the H1N1 virus and it has pandemic potential because it is infecting people."

Swine flu in Mexico City closed schools and other public venues, made nearly 1,000 people ill and killed at least 68 people, public health officials say.

The flu strain appears to be the same as one observed in eight California and Texas cases, the WHO said Friday.

An increasing number of people were wearing face masks in Mexico City as the public was warned to avoid large groups and body contact, including shaking hands and kissing, the Voice of America reported Saturday, adding that the WHO has sent experts to the United States and Mexico to monitor the situation.

earlier related report
Asia on alert over latest flu threat
Asian health officials went on alert and urged the public to be vigilant Sunday amid the threat of a flu strain that has killed up to 81 people in Mexico and sparked warnings of a potential pandemic.

Governments across the region, which has in recent years been at the forefront of the SARS and bird flu epidemics, urged the public, and especially travellers, to be on guard for symptoms of the new multi-strain of swine fever.

In New Zealand, a 25-strong school group was quarantined pending the results of medical tests after returning from Mexico with flu-like symptoms, local health authorities said.

Results were expected later Sunday.

In Japan, airports tightened checks on passengers arriving from Mexico, with quarantine officials giving out face masks and using thermography imaging cameras to screen for passengers with a fever.

Health officials handed out leaflets to those headed for Mexico and the United States, urging them to wear face masks and wash their hands regularly to prevent infection from the new multi-strain swine flu.

A Japanese health ministry hotline for worried members of the public attracted some 400 calls on Saturday alone, according to a ministry official.

Agriculture minister Shigeru Ishiba appealed for people to stay calm, noting that the flu so far appeared to be confined to Mexico and the United States, and underlining that the drug Tamiflu seemed to provide effective treatment.

"There is no risk of infection now," Ishiba said Sunday, appearing on a talk show on the private Asahi television network. "Should you be infected, Tamiflu is very effective. We have enough stockpiles in Japan."

Like most governments in the region, Australia urged people who had recently returned from Mexico and had developed flu-like symptoms to seek medical advice.

"Australia has good communicable disease surveillance and control systems in place to detect and respond to outbreaks of illness," a health department spokeswoman said.

South Korean health, agriculture and foreign ministry officials held an emergency meeting to discuss the issue, while in China, the health ministry said it was "paying close attention" to the situation.

China and Hong Kong bore the brunt of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003 that killed nearly 800 people, most of them in Asia, bringing air travel here to a near-standstill and battering the region's economies.

The same year, the H5N1 strain of bird flu re-appeared in Asia.

It has since killed 257 people, according to the World Health Organisation, and officials have long warned that the virus could become a global pandemic if it mutates into a form that is easily transmissible between humans.

The Chinese government was Sunday studying inspection and quarantine measures to guard against the spread of the latest flu strain, officials said.

In Hong Kong, health officials said checks at border crossings had been stepped up and that airlines had been asked to broadcast messages on all flights coming direct from affected areas.

The World Health Organisation warned Saturday that the virus had the potential to become a pandemic, labelling the current outbreak "a public health emergency of international concern."

It said it was recommending that all countries "intensify surveillance for unusual outbreaks of influenza-like illness and severe pneumonia".

Mexican officials said the death toll from the new strain had probably risen to 81, while 10 people were believed infected in the United States.

Highlighting the potential role of international air travel in spreading the virus, a British Airways cabin crew staff member was being treated in a London hospital with flu-like symptoms after arriving on a flight from Mexico City.

New York health officials told CNN Friday they are testing about 75 students at a Queens school for swine flu after the students showed flu-like symptoms this week.

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