Lebanon Confirms 3 Swine Flu Cases
Three cases of swine flu have been diagnosed in Lebanon, the first in the country, Health Minister Mohammad Jawad Khalife announced on Saturday.
"One Lebanese currently living in Spain and two Canadians who arrived in Lebanon a week ago are suffering from swine flu," Khalife told Agence France Presse (AFP). "We put them in quarantine and the blood samples we have taken every day proved to be positive.
"They were given the proper medical treatment in time and they are well now."
Khalife added that the virus was not homegrown and came from the outside.
"We are going to have to take additional measures," he later told reporters at a press conference. "We are going to take more precautions at the airport."
He said health authorities might use thermal scanners at the airport to detect passengers with fever.
"The situation is under control," he said.
Figures released Friday by the World Health Organization showed that the A(H1N1) virus had infected 15,510 people in 53 countries since it was first uncovered last month in the United States and Mexico.