Israel offered on Friday evening assistance to the Palestinian Authority, Jordan and Egypt in the fight against Swine flu.
A man wearing a face mask pushes his luggage at London's Heathrow airport after returning from Mexico.
Photo: AP
The Foreign Ministry made the laboratory at Tel Hashomer Hospital available to Palestinians, Egyptians, and Jordanians in case suspected cases are found among them.
A five-hour-meeting in the ministry Friday was attended by representatives of the Jordanian Health Ministry, the Palestinian Health Ministry, Israel's Health Ministry and officials from the Egyptian Embassy in Tel Aviv. Dr. Alex Levental, director of the Department of International Relations in the Health Ministry, was also present.
The officials scheduled to meet again in two weeks time. But officials from the Arab countries said so far no cases were discovered there. Levntal said the Jordanians were already examining all tourists coming through Israel.
On Friday afternoon, a couple from Tel Aviv that recently returned from Mexico was hospitalized in Ichilov Medical Center for tests. The Health Ministry said they were in good condition.
Earlier Friday morning, another suspected swine flu case emerged in Israel, when a 26-year-old woman was reported to be hospitalized in Haifa after feeling ill following contact with a youngster who had recently returned from Mexico.
The woman was being kept in isolation at the city's Bnei Zion Hospital and the Health Ministry was working to track down the young man.
It marks the first suspected case of the virus in the North.
On a more positive note, test results revealed Friday that an elderly woman and a nine-year-old girl who were hospitalized in central Israel with flu-like symptoms after recently returning from Mexico had not contracted swine flu.
Earlier, the Parents Association at the girl's Ra'anana school, Hadekel, had decided to keep all children at home for the day as a precaution, going above and beyond the Health Ministry's directive for two grades in the school to stay home.
Following the negative test results, the Parents Association announced that all classes would resume on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the first two Israelis diagnosed with the virus were discharged from Netanya's Laniado Hospital and Kfar Saba's Meir Medical Center respectively after fully recovering.
Also Friday, 33 Israelis who flew in from Mexico underwent medical examinations at Ben Gurion Airport.
They were all found to be healthy but agreed to stay in their homes for the next seven days.
It came a day after the government stepped up preventive measures against the spread of the virus, ordering travelers returning from Mexico to undergo medical checks at airports or other points of entry.
In a meeting attended by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Deputy Health Minister Ya'acov Litzman and others, it was decided to increase stocks of antiviral medicines above the levels recommended by the World Health Organization, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office said.
The Health Ministry will be kept in charge, for the time being, of containing the flu and monitoring passengers arriving at all the air and sea ports, especially Ben-Gurion.
There, a special clinic, manned by doctors with expertise in infectious disease, was set up to examine all those who say they have just been to Mexico, where the outbreak began last week. The ministry will continue to monitor people who were in Mexico in the past week and ask them to remain at home in case they develop symptoms of fever, respiratory problems and coughing in the next few days.
Netanyahu decided on Thursday that the Health Ministry would remain responsible for handling the issue, despite concern that the flu was spreading in Israel. If the flu caused a fatality or spread "out of control," responsibility would likely be transferred over to the Defense Ministry, defense officials said.
At a news conference held after Thursday's meeting with Netanyahu, Health Ministry director-general Avi Israeli reiterated the government's warning for Israelis to avoid visiting Mexico for now.
"We tell all Israelis not to go to Mexico, and to cancel their trips to Mexico for the time being," he said.
He said those arriving in Israel who had been in Mexico within the preceding seven days would be examined on the spot, and Israelis cleared to proceed to their homes would be told to remain indoors for a week from the date they left Mexico.
As Israel has stores of Tamiflu and Relenza - two drugs that significantly reduce flu complications - equal to 17 percent of the population, rather than the recommended 25%, the ministry has received extra funding to increase stocks of the medications. With additional supplies, Israel's medicines-to-population rate will be much higher than both the global average and World Health Organization recommendations, joining the five leading countries in this regard.
The Foreign Ministry will halt the departure of Israeli delegations to Mexico until further notice. Travel warnings will be issued to Israelis, and the Foreign Ministry has contacted Mexican authorities requesting that they suspend the dispatch of delegations and tourists to Israel.
Netanyahu will chair a daily meeting on the swine flu threat and has asked all relevant officials to monitor developments.
The Health Ministry - whose information line at (03) 695-1541 or *3090 is very busy handling calls - will launch an information campaign to explain to the public how to reduce the risk of infection.
The Defense Ministry has asked all government ministries to prepare lists of "essential staff" who would be required to continue working if swine flu evolved into a nationwide epidemic, defense officials said Thursday.
"We need to know who is essential and will be needed to keep things running in case the virus spreads out of control," explained one official.
In addition, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilna'i has ordered the coordinator of the government activities in the territories to coordinate containment efforts with the Palestinian Authority, Egypt and Jordan.
