MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK has enough anti-viral drugs to treat 50% of the population

Health experts in Britain are on high alert to prevent the spread of a new human strain of the swine flu virus. Britain’s NHS also revealed it has a stockpile of £ 500 million of Tamiflu anti-viral drug which has proved effective on patients in Mexico where the outbreak seems to have started.

Two people who were admitted to hospital in Scotland suffering “flu-like symptoms” after returning from Mexico continue to be tested and assessed.

Meanwhile, UK Health Secretary Alan Johnson confirmed that a man taken to a London hospital after arriving at Heathrow on a flight from Mexico City did not have the H1N1 strain of the virus.

But he said he had no doubt there would be more cases of travellers coming into the UK with flu-like symptoms and promised that they would be examined “very, very quickly” by the NHS.

Air passengers returning to Heathrow from Mexico City have been delayed on board in order to allow health officials to ask them if they felt unwell and to assess anyone's symptoms and travel history.

No cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Britain.

The NHS has a stockpile of more than £500 million of the Swiss lab Roche Tamiflu anti-viral drug which has proved effective on patients in Mexico, and scientists are working on developing a vaccine against the new strain, said Mr Johnson.

The Department of Health said it had stepped up surveillance arrangements, adding that the UK has enough anti-viral drug stocks to provide treatment for 50% of the population should they become ill.